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THE NAVY 
AND THE NATION 

WAR-TIME ADDRESSES 

BY 

JOSEPHUS DANIELS 

SECRETARY OF THE NAVY 



WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY 

JOHN WILBER JENKINS 




NEW ^S^ YORK 
GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY 



^s^^ 



COPYRIGHT, 1919, 
BY GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY 



Mi \2 i9iy 



PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OP AMERICA 



©C1.A525572 



INTRODUCTION 

'Tull speed ahead!'' has been the signal of the 
Navy from the moment we entered the war. 
When the call came, it was ready. The plans 
had all been prepared in advance, and it required 
only an order to mobilize the Fleet. Far from 
breaking down under the war strain, the depart- 
mental machinery actually speeded up. No 
change whatever was required in the organiza- 
tion, which easily expanded to meet the im- 
mensely increased demands. From admirals to 
seamen, from Bureau chiefs to clerks, the entire 
establishment worked together with the spirit of 
the corps. This ''spirit of the Navy'' is a very 
real thing, as all who are brought in contact 
with the Service know. Everybody "gets into 
the game" with a dash and eagerness that are 
infectious, and new elements are quickly assimi- 
lated. 

The apparent ease with which the vast expan- 
sion of the Navy was accomplished has caused 
many to lose sight of the tremendousness of the 
task and its difficulty. Sir Eric Geddes, First 
Lord of the British Admiralty, on his visit to 
this country last October said: ''The dauntless 
determination which the United States has dis- 
played in creating a huge trained body of seamen 

[iii] 



INTRODUCTION 

out of landsmen is one of the most striking ac- 
complishments of the war. Had it not been ef- 
fectively done, one would have thought it impos- 
sible." This was only one — and that by no means 
the most difficult — of many problems that had to 
be, and were, solved successfully. When the 
armistice was signed there were more men in the 
United States Navy than there were in all the 
world's navies before the European war. There 
were more than six times as many ships in serv- 
ice as when the war began, and hundreds more 
were under construction. Our vessels were oper- 
ating from the Murman Coast to the Adriatic, 
through all the Atlantic from the North Sea to 
the Azores, in the Pacific from Panama to Vladi- 
vostock. Some idea of the increase in the Service 
can be gained from the statement that the appro- 
priations during the past two years have exceeded 
the total expenditures of the Navy from its crea- 
tion in 1794 down to 19 17. 

During this momentous period Secretary 
Daniels has been fortunate in having loyal and 
capable counselors. The Bureau chiefs were 
men of his own selection, they worked together 
with the close and intimate cooperation of men 
inspired by the same ideals and animated by a 
common purpose, and not one has failed to meas- 
ure up to the responsibilities imposed upon him. 
Mr. Daniels trusts them, he has every confidence 
in them; but, at the same time, he has his own 
ideas and sees that they are carried out. And he 

[iv] 



INTRODUCTION 

also insists on knowing all that is being done. 
This involves a vast amount of detail, it requires 
him to be "on the job'' early and late — no cabinet 
officer ever worked harder — but it enables him 
to know everything that is going on in the De- 
partment and the Service. He laughingly admits 
that he "didn't know a thing about the Navy" 
when he left his editorial sanctum to take office 
as Secretary, but he set about to learn every 
detail of it; and no Government official was ever 
more thoroughly familiar with his Department. 
These speeches, delivered in the stir and stress 
of wartime, probably reflect more faithfully his 
spirit and ideals than would the studied phrases 
of formal and carefully considered addresses. 
They voice his passion for democracy, which he 
defines as "the theory that every man, high or 
low, rich or poor, shall have a chance to make the 
most of himself." They reveal his firm belief in 
the God of Our Fathers, in a religion that means 
clean living and right thinking, a practical, work- 
ing morality applied to public as well as private 
affairs. Through them all shines forth his thor- 
ough Americanism, his belief in our country and 
its ideals; his faith in the people; his never fail- 
ing confidence in the triumph of the Right. If he 
seems at times to dwell somewhat too much upon 
"service" and "sacrifice," it is because he feels 
that these words best express the unselfishness of 
America in this war for humanity. His admira- 
tion of the courage and daring of youth, his sor- 

[V] 



INTRODUCTION 

rowful pride in the young men who have given 
their lives for the Cause is intensified, I some- 
times think, by his own feeHng of kinship with 
them, for he retains in a marked degree that 
youthfulness of spirit, the buoyant optimism and 
freshness of view that most men lose as they grow 
older. Perhaps that, and his devotion to his own 
sons, also accounts largely for his personal inter- 
est in the boys of the Navy — for the Navy is 
largely a boy institution. It is not in his nature to 
look upon the men in the service as merely so 
many parts in a big machine. They are ''his 
boys,'' and he considers it his duty and privilege 
to give them every opportunity for development 
and education, every possible chance to fit them- 
selves for any position in life they are capable of 
filling. "The Door of Opportunity has been 
opened wide to the enlisted man," he exclaimed in 
a speech to 13,000 recruits at Great Lakes Train- 
ing Station. And proof of this is the fact that 
more than ten thousand enlisted men and warrant 
officers have been promoted to commissioned or 
warrant rank. Early in the war he instituted the 
rule that, in both the Navy and Marine Corps, 
commissions were to be issued only to men from 
the ranks who had won them by fair competition, 
open to all. 'The Navy does not give any man 
a commission," he said. "He must win it him- 
self by his own ability and energy." And this 
merit system was no small factor in stimulating 
ambition and improving morale. 

[vi] 



INTRODUCTION 

Though never minimizing the moral issue, it 
was not any desire to make a "goody goody" in- 
stitution of the Navy or to reform cities which 
inspired his order banishing the wine-mess from 
warships; his insistence upon laws to prevent 
the serving of drink to men in uniform ; his orders 
creating zones around training camps and sta- 
tions in which saloons, gambling dens and houses 
of ill fame were prohibited. It was primarily his 
desire to protect the young men committed to his 
care, to prevent them from falling victims to vice 
and disease, to assure mothers and fathers that 
they could safely entrust their sons to the Navy 
in the confidence that they would develop into 
manly, wholesome men, strengthened in character 
as well as physique. "The old saying, 'Drunk as 
a sailor,' is clear out of date,'' the Secretary re- 
marked, not without a touch of pride ; "people say 
now, 'He's sober as a sailor.' " And events have 
justified the policies for which Mr. Daniels was 
so severely criticized when they were instituted. 
There is hardly an officer in the Navy who would 
to-day recommend the reestablishment of the 
wine-mess aboard ship. Its abolition has been 
justified on the ground of efficiency alone. Pro- 
tective measures have resulted in reducing drink- 
ing ashore to a minimum and in greatly decreas- 
ing diseases that are the bane of navies and 
armies alike. 

His close scrutiny of contracts, his insistence 
on getting things at the lowest possible cost, in 

[vii] 



INTRODUCTION 

some cases throwing out all bids and comman- 
deering ships or fixing prices under the special 
authority given by law in war time, caused Mr. 
Daniels to be rather severely criticized. One 
eminent steel magnate said to him: "Daniels, I 
don't see why they call you a Southerner ; when 
it comes to a trade, you are the closest Yankee I 
ever went up against." But this policy resulted 
in saving millions of dollars to the Government, 
and the Secretary thinks that is worth all the 
denunciation that was poured upon him. At 
times in the rush of war work he put upon men 
in charge of big undertakings tasks they said 
were ''plainly impossible" to accomplish in the 
time set. ''Yes, I know that," he remarked 
aside; "but we will get that work done a lot 
sooner if everybody goes staving at it with the 
idea that it must be done by that time." And 
some seeming impossibilities were accomplished. 
A saying in the Navy, "It can't be done — but, 
here it is !" grew into a motto that was repeated 
with pride when a big job was "put over" in 
record time. The whole establishment set out 
to break records in every line. The idea that 
"the only way to keep up with the game is to 
keep ahead of it," prevailed, and ships and sta- 
tions, bureaus and yards engaged in eager rivalry. 
And the Secretary was the midst of it all, com- 
mending the leaders, stirring up the laggards, and 
keeping all moving like the coach at a football 
game. 

[viii] 



INTRODUCTION 

It was strenuous striving, this whirl of war, 
with never a let-up, day or night, enough to have 
broken down any man. But Mr. Daniels enjoyed 
it and thrived under the strain. After a grilling 
day, wath half a dozen conferences and a con- 
stant stream of callers, he would close his desk 
with a smile, toss an armful of mail and docu- 
ments to his colored messenger to take to his resi- 
dence, and say with a laugh, "Now we'll go home 
and work awhile." 

His enjoyment of his work, his unfailing good 
humor, his superb health, his eagerness to serve 
his country to the best of his ability and the limit 
of his strength have enabled him to carry the 
burdens of war without being crushed by 
them. 

Regarding war as one of the most terrible evils 
that afflict mankind and hoping it might be 
averted, Mr. Daniels saw plainly that America 
might be drawn into the conflict, and believed it 
should be prepared for any eventuality that 
might arise. In his annual report for 191 5 he 
urged a large increase in the Navy, and continu- 
ous construction. This plan was adopted by Con- 
gress in the epoch-making Act of August 29, 
19 1 6, which authorized the ''three-year pro- 
gram," including 157 war vessels; provided for 
a considerable increase in personnel and the crea- 
tion of an ample Naval Reserve Force. This Act, 
which carried appropriations of $312,000,000 — 
the largest amount which, up to that time, had 

[ix] 



INTRODUCTION 

ever been appropriated at one time for naval pur- 
poses — laid the basis of preparedness and pro- 
vided the machinery for the expansion of the 
Navy. 

V From the moment hostilities appeared inevit- 
able, Mr. Daniels threw all his energies into prep- 
aration. Long before, through the Naval Con- 
sulting Board and other agencies, he had sur- 
veyed the industries of the country and the avail- 
ability of the plants for war work. Soon after 
the breaking off of diplomatic relations with Ger- 
many all the merchant ships, yachts, tugs and, 
other craft in our ports were surveyed with a 
view to their use as auxiliaries. In March con- 
tracts were let for the building of 355 submarine 
chasers. Most of the vessels authorized in the 
three-year program had already been contracted 
for. Preparations had been made to arm mer- 
chant ships for defense against attack by sub- 
marines, and when the President issued his or- 
der, March 12, 1917, this work was begun that 
very day. Vessels carrying naval gun's-crews 
were sailing through the war zone before war 
was declared. The first man lost in service 
against the enemy was a member of the Armed 
Guard, John I. Eopolucci, who went down with 
the Aztec on April i, the day before President 
Wilson delivered his war message to Congress. 
Naval vessels had been put in readiness, muni- 
tions stored, supply ships were ready to sailf 
When a state of war with Germany was pro- 

[x] 



INTRODUCTION 

claimed on April 6, the Fleet \vas mobilized with- 
out an hour's delay. 

Admiral Sims had already been sent abroad to 
get in touch with Allied admiralties, and a work- 
ing agreement with them was put into effect im- 
mediately. Ruthless submarine warfare was at 
its height. More than 700,000 tons of shipping 
was sunk in that month. The possibility of Ger- 
many sending her U-boats against our own coast 
was thoroughly realized, as was also the fact 
that we did not have enough destroyers to patrol 
home waters and at the same time furnish an ef- 
fective force for foreign service. But there was 
no hesitation. A vigorous aggressive policy was 
adopted. The American Navy decided not to wait 
for the submarines, but to ''go after'' them. 
Orders were immediately issued to equip a flotilla 
of destroyers for foreign service. Sailing on 
April 24, they arrived at Queenstown May 4, 
and reported for duty with the British Navy 
twenty-eight days after war was declared. This 
force in European waters was constantly in- 
creased, every type of boat that could be effect- 
ively utilized being sent over. A division of 
American battleships was sent to operate with 
the British Grand Fleet; submarines were dis- 
patched, sub-chasers were sent over in a steady 
stream. Naval aviators were sent abroad, the 
first arriving in France June 8. Bases were es- 
tablished all along the French coast, in the Medi- 
terranean and the Azores. When hostilities 

[xi] 



INTRODUCTION 

ended there were more than 300 vessels and a 
force of over 75,000 men and officers operating 
in European waters under Admiral Sims' com- 
mand. 

The Germans' long-distance gun that bom- 
barded Paris was answered by the huge Ameri- 
can 14-inch naval guns. On mobile railway 
mounts, these long cannon threw their 1,400- 
pound projectiles far in rear of the enemy lines, 
destroying bases, tearing up railroad stations, 
cutting lines of communication. These immense 
mounts, locomotives and trains were designed 
and built in a few months, shipped to France, set 
up there and, manned by Navy gunners, under 
command of Rear Admiral Plunkett, moved along 
the firing line from Laon to Montmedy, playing 
an effective part in the final rout of the Germans. 

The North Sea Mine Barrage, which, stretch- 
ing from the Orkneys to the coast of Norway, did 
much to bar the egress of German vessels and 
accounted for not a few U-boats, was an Ameri- 
can idea, and eighty-five per cent of the 230 miles 
of mines were made in this country and planted 
by American mine-layers. From the beginning 
our naval authorities had held to the idea that 
the best way to curb the submarines was to pen 
them up in their bases. Our ordnance officers 
soon after we entered the war urged the laying 
of mine-fields clear across the North Sea, but the 
immensity of the project deterred, for a time, the 
adoption of the plan. A special type of mine was 

[xii] 



INTRODUCTION 

devised and manufactured by thousands, a mine 
fleet was created, active mine-laying began last 
June and the immense undertaking was com- 
pleted in October. 

Tankers were scarce. The British Grand Fleet 
and American battleships were stationed on the 
east coast. Fuel ships, after reaching the western 
ports, had to make the long trip, braving the sub- 
marines, around the North of Scotland, to the 
Firth of Forth. With the aid of American naval 
units, a pipe-line was laid clear across Scotland, 
enabling the tankers to unload at a western port, 
the oil being piped across to the British bases on 
the eastern coast. This is only one example of 
the way in which we made every possible contri- 
bution to Allied naval effectiveness. 

When it was decided, in May, 191 7, to send 
over at once as large a force as possible of United 
States troops, the task of transporting them was 
entrusted to the Navy. Transports were hastily 
gathered and equipped, and the first convoy, 
under command of Admiral Cleaves, sailed on 
June 14. The first contingent arrived at St. 
Nazaire on June 26, the last of the convoy be- 
ing landed by July 3. Though twice attacked 
by submarines, all arrived safely. This was the 
beginning of what grew into "the biggest trans- 
portation job in history" — the carrying of 2,000,- 
000 men 3,000 miles overseas. When the men of 
the National Army poured into the camps by thou- 
sands that autumn, the question was anxiously 

[xiii] 



INTRODUCTION 

asked, *'How will you ever transport them?" 
With only a handful of transports, it did seem im- 
possible. But Daniels answered : ''When the men 
are ready to go, the ships will be ready. I don't 
know now how we shall get them, but we'll get 
them somehow." The huge German vessels, 
whose machinery had been wrecked, were re- 
paired and utilized as troop-ships and supply ves- 
sels. Merchantmen and liners were acquired and 
converted, Dutch ships were put into service and 
a large Cruiser and Transport Force created. 
When the "March drive" of 1918 threatened the 
Allied lines, British shipping in quantity was 
made available, and by July the British and Amer- 
ican vessels, with some French and Italian assist- 
ance, were carrying overseas 300,000 men a 
month. To furnish food, munitions and the thou- 
sand things needed by this big army, a vast sup- 
ply system had to be established, and the Navy 
was soon manning and operating hundreds of 
supply vessels. The Naval Overseas Transpor- 
tation Service was created, and in a single year 
grew to a fleet of 321 vessels, with a deadweight 
tonnage of 2,800,000. 

This unprecedented undertaking of transport- 
ing men, munitions and supplies was, in spite of 
the constant menace of submarine attack, accom- 
plished with so small a loss of life and cargoes 
that, as compared with the general result, the 
losses were almost negligible. But it never ceased 
to be a hazardous task. Every safeguard was 

[xiv] 



INTRODUCTION 

adopted ; but there is no means known to man that 
will give vessels absolute protection from under- 
sea attack, there was never an hour when there 
was not the possibility that some troop-ship 
might be sunk, with its precious cargo of human 
freight; and only those closely associated with 
them can know the strain and anxiety of the 
chiefs of Navy and Army when large convoys of 
troops were sailing through the dangers of the 
war zone. Yet the stream never halted. 

When, the first Sunday in June, 1918, Ger- 
man submarines appeared off our own coasts and 
sank half a dozen schooners, a tanker and a coast- 
wise passenger liner in a single day, the whole 
country was excited. It was a trying time. The 
safety of our own sailors and fishermen, our 
schooners and home craft was the first thought. 
Telegrams by the hundred poured into the Navy 
Department. There was a strong demand that 
all available naval craft be turned to the protec- 
tion of coastwise and incoming traffic, that troop- 
ships and ocean-going merchantmen be held until 
the danger was over. Had that been done, the 
Germans would have succeeded in their object. 

"Will the transports be held in port?'* 
"Aren't you going to convoy all coastwise traf- 
fic?" "Won't you have to use all the patrol ves- 
sels to protect the steamers and schooners off our 
shores?" were some of the questions with which 
the Secretary was confronted when he faced the 
members of the Press the next morning. He did 

[XV] 



INTRODUCTION 

not attempt to minimize the seriousness of the sit- 
uation. But he clenched his fist as he said : *'We 
are doing, and will do, all we can to protect 
coastwise shipping. But our first duty is to keep 
open the Road to France. Nothing will be al- 
lowed to halt the ships carrying men, munitions 
and supplies." 

In spite of the submarines at our very doors, 
the transports sailed as scheduled, well con- 
voyed; and the Germans, while they sank more 
than a score of schooners and a number of steam- 
ers, did not delay the troop-ships a single day. 

That was characteristic of Mr. Daniels' policy 
in prosecuting the war. He never wavered for 
an instant in the main objects. Adopting the 
President's policy of 'Torce, force to the ut- 
most," he protested against fixing any definite 
number of men we should send to France. ''Don't 
let us talk of two million or three million," he 
said; "we will send over all the millions that are 
required, for America is pledged, to her last dol- 
lar and her last man, to win this war." And in 
October, after the German overtures, when a 
well-known magazine writer asked him to dis- 
cuss arrangements for peace, he refused, saying, 
"It is not my business to talk peace or think of 
peace, until the Central Powers are defeated and 
have laid down their arms. It is my business 
and the business of the Navy to devote every 
thought and energy to winning the war." 

Yet he continually looked forward to that glad 
[xvi] 



INTRODUCTION 

day when hostilities should end in victory for 
democracy, when we would look upon ''a new 
heaven and a new earth" in which liberty, pros- 
perity and the happiness of freedom would bless 
the whole earth. There was no man in that nota- 
ble assembly in the House of Representatives 
November ii, who more deeply rejoiced when 
the President, in that historic speech setting 
forth the terms of the German surrender, pro- 
nounced the momentous words: 'The war thus 
comes to an end." 

Delivered on various occasions when he could 
spare a few hours from his desk in Washing- 
ton, these addresses are the spontaneous expres- 
sion of Mr. Daniels' ideas and ideals, many of 
which he has been privileged to translate into 
reality and in the realization of others has seen, 
his dreams come true. 

John Wilber Jenkins. 



[xvii] 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Introduction iii 

CHAPTER 

I ''Get You A Naval Hero" . . . . <2i 
Address to Graduating Class, U. S. Naval 
Academy, Annapolis, March 2g, igiy 

II Patriotism Before Business ... 34 
Patriotic Meeting of Retail Merchants of 
Washington, May 26, igiy 

III "Uncle Sam, Here I Am" .... 39 
Coal Operators'' Conference, Washington, 

June 26, igiy 

IV "A Place IN the Sun" 46 

Breaking Ground for Armor Plate and Pro- 
jectile Factory, Charleston, Aug. jo, igiy 

V Men Must Live Straight if They 

Would Shoot Straight .... 56 
Clinical Congress of Surgeons of North 
America, Chicago, October 22, igiy 

VI Youth's Courage and Sacrifice . . 70 
Naval Memorial Service, Washington 
Navy Yard, October 28, igij 

VII To Make, Not Break, Prisoners . . 77 
Portsmouth [N . H.) Naval Prison, No- 
vember 18, igij 

VIII The Poison of Pessimism .... 83 
Southern Society Banquet, New York, De- 
cember 12, igij 

IX War Against Junkerism .... 92 

Alliance for Labor and Democracy, New 
York, February 22, igi8 

[xlx] 



X 



XI 



XII 



CONTENTS 

The Blessing of National Unity 
Launching of Catholic War Fund Cam- 
paign, New York, March 17, igi8 

The Test of an American .... 
Society of the Sons of St. Patricky New 
York, March 16, 1918 



PAGE 
103 



IIO 



Knights of Our New Day — the Navy 

IN Peace ^ 121 

National Geographic Society, Washingtonif 
March 2q, 1918 

XIII There Is No Rank in Sacrifice . . 131 
Yale University, New Haven, April 18, 1918 

XIV "Freedom's Battle, Once Begun, 

Though Baffled Oft Is Ever Won" 138 
Tremont Temple, Boston, April 19, igi8 

A Race Between Wilson and Hinden- 

BURG 142 

Faneuil Hall, Boston, October jo, 191 8 

XV Leadership, Inspiration and Public 

Service of the Press 147 

American Newspaper Publishers^ Associa- 
tion, New York, April 25, jgi8 

XVI America's New Horizon . . . . 155 
American Cotton Manufacturers^ Associa- 
tion, New York, May 2, igi8 

XVII Star of Hope and Faith Undimmed . 164 
General Conference of Methodist Episcopal 
Church, South; Atlanta, Ga., May 11, 
igi8 

XVIII As They Go Forth to Battle . . . 170 
Address to Graduating Class, U. S. Naval 
Academy, Annapolis, June 6, igi8 

[xx] 



CHAPTER 

XIX 



XX 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Colleges IN THE New Crusade . . 177 

Commencement Day, University of Vir- 
ginia, Charlottesville, June 11, igi8 

The Force of an Ideal Stronger than 
THE Ideal of Force 188 

Fourth of July Celebration by the Tam- 
many Society of New York, July 4, igi8 



XXI 



Men of the Red Triangle .... 

Y . M.C. A. Meeting, Carnegie Eall, New 
York, July 8, igi8 



196 



202 



206 



XXII Ready for Any Duty or Danger . 

Newport, R. I., Naval Training Station, 
November 77, igiy 

Real ''Stuff" and ''Pep" Will "Win" 

Naval Training Station, Hampton RoadSy 
July 20, igi8 

XXIII Our South American Shipmates . . 214 

Dinner in honor of Officers of Argentine 
Battleship " Rivadavia" and Brazilian 
Battleship "Sao Paulo," New York, 
August 21, igi8 

XXIV Loyalty of Labor 221 

Labor Day, Indianapolis, Sept. 2, igi8 

XXV LaFayette's Prophecy Fulfilled . 230 

Celebration of Lafayette's Birthday, La- 
fayette Monument, Washington, Sep- 
tember 6, igi8 

XXVI Wilson and Wilhelm' — Opposing 

Ideals Contrasted 239 

Address to Class of 648 Naval Reserve En- 
signs, Annapolis, Sept. 18, igi8 

[xxl] 



CHAPTER 

XXVII 



XXVIII 

XXIX 

XXX 

XXXI 
XXXII 

XXXIII 

xxxrv 

XXXV 

XXXVI 

XXXVII 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Wealth Enlisted in Nation's Service 249 
American Bankers^ Association^ Chicago ^ 
September 27, igi8 

The Return to the Promised Land 257 
Zionist Patriotic Demonstration, New 
York, September 2Q, igi8 

A Peace of Justice, Not Revenge . 266 

Community Thanksgiving Service, Bufalo, 
November 28, igi8 

The Marines at ChAteau-Thierry . 275 
Annual Report of the Secretary of the 
Navy, December i, igi8 

Comrades of the Seas 290 

Springfield, Mass., December 8, igiS 



29s 



302 



The Need of a Greater Navy 
Statement to House Naval Afairs Com- 
mittee, December jo, igi8 

Drink Banished from the Navy . 

Board of Temperance, Prohibition and 
Public Morals of Methodist Episcopal 
Church, Washington, December ly, igi8 

Italy an Inspiration 311 

Italy-America Society, New York, Jan- 
uary 26, igig 

Women's Work in War 323 

Congressional Club, Washington, Febru- 
ary y, igig 

A Covenant of Peace . . . . .328 
Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New 
York, February 16, igig 

Brief Messages, Letters and Utter- 
ances ON Special Occasions . . 337 

[xxii] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 



THE 
NAVY AND THE NATION 



''get you a naval hero" 



We live in tense times. Great issues stir the depths 
of men. Small questions are shriveled. Life, death, lib- 
erty, valor, justice, immortality are the themes that 
alone grip us in this hour. Questions big with the fate 
not alone of nations, but the world, may be decided by 
you. I summon you to your high calling, confident that 
with solemn responsibility there will come heroic 
achievement. 

Address to Graduating Class of 1917, U. S. Naval 
Academy, Annapolis, Md., March 2g, 1917* 

You are to receive your commission in a day 
when nearly all the world is in the vortex of war 
and no people can feel that they may not be drawn 
into it. Your own country faces a crisis. In this 
emergency the President, who has declared his 
belief that ''the American Navy ought to be in- 
comparably the most adequate Navy in the world" 
in the exercise of a discretion vested in him, will 
commission you three months ahead of the usual 
period. That fact alone emphasizes the signifi- 
cance of your early graduation. Whatever, in 

[21] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

addition to steps already taken by placing armed 
naval guards on merchant ships, this country 
may be called upon to do, its chief and first re- 
liance will be upon the Navy. Fortunately, the 
country has officers and men not surpassed in any 
naval service. To their number we are adding 
to-day 183 officers from the Naval Academy, and 
we are drawing to its enlisted strength an addi- 
tional 25,000 from the alert and resolute youth of 
the country, which, added to the present personnel, 
gives us the finest body of enlisted men any offi- 
cers were ever privileged to instruct and lead. 
You come into a service with a glorious record, 
resplendent with noble traditions. You enter at 
a time w^hen grave responsibilities fall without 
days of waiting upon your young shoulders. To- 
day, as not before in a generation, the eyes of 
your countrymen are turned in pride as well as 
in confidence toward the newly commissioned en- 
signs. You go out of this institution with its 
imprimatur. You go into the hard and honor- 
able service before you with valor. You leave 
this institution which has nurtured you, with the 
resolve to be worthy successors of the brave men 
who in every decade have made the achievements 
of the Navy the crowning glory of America. 

Your training fits you for duties not dreamed 
of by naval officers of the last generation. In 
men "the best is yet to be." Your country sees 
in you leaders in naval improvements such as did 
not enter into the minds of men of Admiral 

[22] 



"GET YOU A NAVAL HERO" 

Dewey's day. This faith in youth was never bet- 
ter expressed than by Admiral Dewey to Chief 
Justice White shortly before the Admiral's death. 
"Tell me about these young officers of the Navy," 
said the Chief Justice to the Admiral. "Will 
they equal the splendid officers of our day?" 
With enthusiasm the Admiral told of their train- 
ing, their mastery of many branches, their ver- 
satility, and said, "These youngsters know three 
hundred times as much as young officers knew 
in my day." 

My advice to every young man of ambition 
and stuff who enters Annapolis is, "Get you a 
naval hero." You will reveal your character and 
your purpose by the type of man you select as 
your example. No books are so stimulating to 
young men as autobiography. The story told in 
his own w^ords by a man who has wrought well 
has a charm and a fascination found in no other 
books. We are so constituted that the highest 
virtues can be emulated only if we find them in- 
carnate. Truth, bravery, self-control are cold 
and abstract unless they shine forth in the lives 
of men of flesh and blood. Indeed our holy re- 
ligion was interpreted through the Man of Gali- 
lee. I w^ould not dare hope to impress upon 
young men the duty of self-sacrifice, self-re- 
straint and self -elevation if these graces had not 
blossomed in the lives of men of our own time and 
you had not been privileged to see their perfect 
fruition in honorable lives. 

[23] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

The answer of youth to the challenge, "Live 
upon the heights!" is, ''Show me a man of my 
temperament who has climbed the Alps, whose 
life was so wholesome and valiant as to win for 
him a place with the immortals. Let me see if 
he had temptations like those which assail me. 
Tell me how he overcame them. Then and then 
only will I believe it possible for me to be master 
of appetite, to put aside selfish ambition, and be 
able to emulate his virtues." This demand of 
youth for a hero they can understand and emu- 
late — a real man whose rise to greatness has been 
along the paths they expect to walk — must be met 
by the production of a "sun-crowned" man. "We 
cannot look, however imperfectly, upon a great 
man, without gaining something by him. He is 
the living light-fountain, which it is good and 
pleasant to be near. The light which enlightens, 
which has enlightened the darkness of the world; 
and this not as a kindled lamp only, but rather as 
a natural luminary shining by the gift of Heaven ; 
a flowing light- fountain, as I say, of native orig- 
inal insight, of manhood and heroic nobleness; 
in whose radiance all souls feel that it is well 
with them." 

It is a matter of gratulation that in presenting 
your diplomas to-day, I do not need to try to 
preach maxims into your hearts. I am happy to 
be able to point you to a man, lately called from 
us, whose whole life was the bourgeoning forth 
of the best traditions of the Naval Academy and 

[24] 



"GET YOU A NAVAL HERO" 

the Naval Service. There is no need in finding a 
hero for the class of 19 17 to go to ancient history 
or to invoke the magic naval names of Nelson or 
John Paul Jones, heroes of other days, whose 
achievements seem far removed from our day and 
modern conditions. It is a far-cry from a hero 
who manned wooden ships in what this genera- 
tion thinks an ancient and rude period, though the 
story of their deeds now and always will thrill 
every manly soul. 

But we do not need to go beyond our own time 
to find the spirit of chivalry that shone in those 
old heroes of the sea. It is a libel upon our civi- 
lization to say "there were giants in those days" 
when we thereby convey the impression that the 
breed of men of courage has not survived to our 
day. Let us indeed praise the men of other times 
who illustrated the sternest qualities of our race, 
for they shine forever in the firmament and 
beckon us to peaks and mountain tops of sacrifice 
and service. But, young gentlemen, the hero to 
whom I point you to-day is no far-removed fixed 
star, so remote as to be out of the influence of our 
lives and surroundings. There is no call to turn 
back the pages of history to read of a youth who 
conquered the waves and won even a greater vic- 
tory by attuning his whole life to the music of 
Duty. For there is a melody in Duty that brings 
the glow of gladness and the blessing of strength 
to all who attend upon its strains. It is no siren 
song, no mere jingle of melody which Duty brings 

[25] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

to those whose ears are trained to Hsten, but it is 
heard only by the valiant and the brave. Young 
gentlemen, let us turn a deaf ear to those who tell 
us we live in commonplace days and must go the 
gait of those who see no vision, dream no dreams, 
and translate no dreams into deeds that live for 
all time. Let us rather have faith in our age and 
say with the poet: 

"We are living, we are moving 
In a grand and awful time, 
In an age on ages telling 
To be living is sublime." 

A few weeks ago the best friend of the young 
naval officer, full of years and full of honors, 
gave a cheerful "Aye, Aye, Sir" to the call of the 
divine Commander-in-Chief. When George 
Dewey passed from us, almost his last thought 
was of you, young gentlemen, and your associates. 
Long before the sad day for us, when he was 
called hence, the Admiral of the Navy told his 
wife that when the end came he wished the mid- 
shipmen of Annapolis to be the guard of honor 
at his burial. ''I do not wish them to come," he 
said, ''because they are under orders. I wish 
them to come as friends." And as friends of that 
golden-hearted gentleman, you went on that sol- 
emn day to Washington. You felt you were sig- 
nally honored by his choice, as indeed you were 
above all other Americans. When I tell you, 
young naval officers, ''Get you a hero and make 

[26] 



"GET YOU A NAVAL HERO" 

him your example/' I do not offer a man of an- 
cient days, a man who is unknown to you, but I 
commend to you your chieftain, your fellow of- 
ficer, the late George Dewey, the Admiral of the 
Navy. 

This is not the time for eulogy of this sailor- 
statesman. Some day I hope to have the privilege 
of trying to trace his career and interpret his life 
for you and those who come after you. To-day 
I merely give you the name, the fame, the deeds 
of George Dewey and bid you make him the 
pattern of your life, so far as any man should 
seek to follow in the footsteps of another. 

What was the secret of the fame of Dewey? 
Let me not attempt to state it, but rather let him 
in his own words tell you the inspiration that 
guided him in his naval career, showing the wis- 
dom of his selection of a hero worthy of emula- 
tion. "For two years during the Civil War,'' 
Dewey writes in his autobiography (which, by 
the way, I advise every young officer to read), *T 
was close to Farragut without realizing at that 
time that I was taking him as my ideal. He has 
always been my ideal of the naval officer — ur- 
bane, decisive, indomitable. Whenever I have 
been in a difficult situation, or in the midst of 
such a confusion of details that the simple and 
right thing to do seemed hazy, I have asked my- 
self : 'What would Farragut do in these circum- 
stances?' In the course of the preparations for 
Manila Bay I often asked myself this question, 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

and I confess I was thinking of him the night we 
entered the Bay and with the conviction that I 
was doing precisely what he would have done. 
Valuable as the training at Annapolis was, it was 
poor schooling beside that of serving under Far- 
ragut in time of war/' 

You have enjoyed exceptional advantages at 
Annapolis, superior to those in Dewey's day, but 
in his spirit I say to you to-day, the influence of 
his career is worth more to you as a stimulation to 
the highest endeavor than the helpful instruction 
you have received in this institution. I hope there 
is not a midshipman here who does not feel within 
himself that with the coming of responsibility he 
is resolved to be no whit less dependable than 
Dewey. I trust there is not one who lacks the am- 
bition to make ample preparation for the day that 
may come — how soon, who can tell ? — when upon 
his coolness and knowledge and leadership and 
ability to shoot straight may depend the fate of a 
decisive naval engagement. 

Those of you who may have had anxious days 
waiting for the posting of marks and who have 
lived through weeks of hard work, struggling to 
bring up a low average caused by weakness in 
some study, can appreciate and take comfort in 
the experience of Admiral Dewey while at the 
Naval Academy. He himself tells us that his 
first year at Annapolis also came near being his 
last, for he was weak in geography and history, 
drawing and grammar; in fact, in no study ex- 

[28] 



"GET YOU A NAVAL HERO" 

cept mathematics did he take a brilliant stand. 
From his dignity and exemplar iness in after 
years, you may expect to hear that ''conduct" was 
his saving grace, but the spirit of mischief and 
adventure which was so prominent in his boyish 
days was uppermost in this first year at the Acad- 
emy; moreover, ''conduct,'' in the relative weight 
of markings, was not then held to be of great im- 
portance, so that it was his standing in mathe- 
matics which pulled him through. But out of the 
38 members of the class who survived at the end 
of the first year, from the original number of 75, 
Dewey stood No. 35. However, the following 
year he did much better and finally in his last year 
he stood No. 5 in the class of 15 which graduated, 
and attained a star. But Dewey tells us that ge- 
ography, in which he was weak at the Academy, 
he learned in the harbors of the world; and his 
handicap in history was overcome by wide read- 
ing and study in after years; and we know that 
the tactics and gunnery, which lowered his stand- 
ing at the Naval Academy but which he after- 
wards had an opportunity to study in the hard 
school of the Civil War, won his undying fame at 
the Battle of Manila Bay. 

We have expressed honor and praise and our 
pride in those who have graduated with the high- 
est honors here to-day, so this is told by way of 
encouragement and as an example for those who 
may have had uphill work, but who in spite of 
difficulties, have overcome and reached the goal. 

[29] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

Admiral Dewey loved to tell of the pranks and 
the mischievous doings of his boyhood days. As 
a little lad he v^as fond of water sports and was a 
good swimmer, so the ''Onion" River, in the 
neighborhood of his home, formed the back- 
ground for many of his adventures. Since the 
Admiral's death, some one has told, as an illustra- 
tion of his resolution and tenacity of purpose, the 
story of how he and another little chap tried to 
outlast each other under water. The affair ter- 
minated when the other boy surrendered and 
Dewey was taken unconscious from the river. 
For a while his father and friends thought his 
life had been lost, but at last he opened his eyes 
and gasped, to the relief of all, ''Did I win?'' 

The history of Admiral Dewey furnishes one of 
the many examples that it is only the man who 
makes ready in the days of calm who is fully 
ready in the days of storm. A call to duty in the 
Navy is ever quick and imperative. The signal 
comes in one minute and the next minute the bat- 
tle is lost or won. There is never time in a crisis to 
prepare. If preparation has not been made pcx- 
tiently and thoroughly in the lower grade or rank, 
the naval officer never has opportunity when the 
emergency arises. This is true also in mastering 
the studies which are necessary for command. 
Dewey — thanks to having selected Farragut as 
his ideal and making ready every day of his ca- 
reer — was collected and capable and cool on the 
morning he sailed into Manila Bay. He recalled 

[30] 



"GET YOU A NAVAL HERO" 

Farragut's, ''Damn the torpedoes ; go ahead/' and 
gave orders to enter and venture the uncertainties 
of a harbor reported to be mined. ''Before the 
declaration of w^ar v^ith Spain/' said Dewey, "I 
had not only considered the preparations for the 
battle, but my position in the event of victory. In 
the event of defeat no ship of our Asiatic Squad- 
ron would have been afloat to tell the story." Ad- 
miral Dewey had duties at Manila as important, 
and in some respects more delicate and difficult, 
after the battle as in that hour under fire. For- 
tunately he had made a life-long study of inter- 
national law, and he did not need to turn to his 
books to learn his duty. "International law,'' he 
tells us, "had been one of my favorite studies." 
He was familiar with the law, and never by word 
or action usurped the function of the civil gov- 
ernment which must always be supreme in inter- 
national matters as well as in domestic rule. He 
won a place as statesman in his responsible duties 
after the Battle of Manila Bay. No people need 
ever fear military usurpation when administered 
by a naval officer like Dewey, zealous for govern- 
ment by law, with the sword acting only at the di- 
rection of the civilian ruler. ^There has come, I 
am glad to say to you, a new understanding of the 
spirit of the Navy by the people as evidenced by 
the generous and wise provision by the last Con- 
gress for its enlargement and strengthening. And 
likewise in the Navy there has come an apprecia- 
tion of the spirit of the people as experienced 

[31] 



THE NAVY AND T^E NATION 

through their representatives in Congress. Much 
of their mutual understanding and appreciation 
is due to the wise leadership of Admiral Dewey, 
who upheld the hands of the Commander-in-Chief 
and taught the nation that its safety resided in 
just government and in a powerful Navy, the in- 
strument of patriotic civil administration. 

Will the people's faith in the Navy as its pro- 
tector be justified? Will they safely look to it as 
the strong right arm of government without 
thought that a powerful navy endangers the su- 
premacy of civilian authority? The answer to 
that question is for you and your fellow officers, 
and those who come after you. I have tested the 
quality of the men of the Navy of to-day. I think 
I know their loyalty to Country and to its tradi- 
tions, and their whole-hearted devotion to the 
ideals of their profession. These ideals were em- 
bodied in George Dewey. To a study of his 
career I invite every young naval officer. He was 
respected by his fellow officers, he was loved by 
the men under his command — for his was always 
a happy ship — he was honored by his countrymen. 
There is your example, young gentlemen. Fol- 
low in the footsteps of Dewey as he emulated 
Farragut. 

We live in tense times. Great issues stir the 
depths of men. Small questions are shriveled. 
Life, death, liberty, valor, justice, immortality 
are the themes that alone grip us in this hour. 
Questions big with the fate not alone of nations, 

[32] 



"GET YOU A NAVAL HERO" 

but the world, may be decided by you. I summon 
you to your high calling, confident that with sol- 
emn responsibility there will come heroic achieve- 
ment. I do not venture to prophesy what lies be- 
fore you. No man can say what a day may bring 
forth. But whether your service is in peace, 
or whether you are called to an early baptism of 
fire, there will be always the incentive to high 
courage and to daring if in every emergency you 
ask yourself the question, "What would Dewey 
do?" and you will find fellowship with him by dis- 
playing those qualities which made our country 
poorer when Admiral Dewey ''crossed the bar'' 
and met his 'Tilot face to face.'' 



[33] 



II 

PATRIOTISM BEFORE BUSINESS 

Now and then we hear some one rise and say that 
business ought to "go on as usual." The only business 
in this country to-day is to win the war for universal 
liberty. If it should happen — and it cannot happen as 
long as God reigns — that autocracy should rule, no man's 
business will be worth a fig. 

Patriotic Meeting of Retail Merchants of Washing- 
ton. May 26, 1917. 

It is a great pleasure to come to-day and to ex- 
press, officially, the thanks of the Navy to this 
patriotic organization of business men in the 
Capital of the Republic for beginning what I be- 
lieve will come to be adopted by every city in the 
country, a program of putting patriotism above 
business. 

The gentlemen of this organization, with the 
proper conception of their duty to increase the 
material prosperity of the city, have been accus- 
tomed every year to organize an excursion to pro- 
mote local business. This year, of their own 
volition, animated by the spirit which I believe is 
the dominating spirit in America to-day, they 
have stated that their private business, and the 
private business of all Washington, and all Amer- 

[34] 



PATRIOTISM BEFORE BUSINESS 

ica, is secondary to the preservation of the prin- 
ciples for which this Nation has gone to war. 

Now and then we hear some one rise and say 
that business ought to *'go on as usual." But the 
only business in this country to-day is to win the 
war for universal liberty. 

If it should happen — and it cannot happen as 
long as God reigns — that autocracy should rule, 
no man's business will be worth a fig, and it is the 
duty of business men everywhere with large vision 
to understand that if they would have a ''place in 
the sun" for themselves and their children, this 
great war must be won, and won by American 
participation. When your body determined that 
they would make this an occasion for patriotism 
rather than for business, they considered in what 
way they could contribute best to the strengthen- 
ing of the National Defense and they chose to de- 
vote their efforts and energies in cooperation with 
the Marine Corps to increase the enlistment of 
these Soldiers of the Sea. There is no finer body 
of fighting men in the world than the Marines. It 
is a particular privilege of my life to be daily as- 
sociated with the officers and men who make up 
this historic part of the Navy. 

In times of great stress, and great war, other 
branches of the National Defense are called upon, 
but the Marine is always on the spot ready for his 
work. If there is trouble in Nicaragua, we send 
the Marines. If there is trouble imperiling the 
power of America on this side of the ocean, we 

[35] 



THE NAVY AND T;HE NATION 

send the Marines. If there is trouble in China 
in which the Legations must protect Americans, 
we send the Marines; and there is no record of 
failure in this splendid branch of the American 
Navy. 

A few years ago it was limited to the number 
of 15,000. Congress ordered an increase and now 
there are 23,000 stalwart men enrolled in the Ma- 
rine Corps and, as a result of your rally, and like 
rallies all over this country, before we celebrate 
the Fourth of July we shall have 35,000 men in 
this Corps. 

I appeal to young men when considering what 
service they shall render (and the young man who 
does not render some service has no right to write 
the word "American" after his name) that they 
shall go into that branch of the Service for which 
they are best fitted. In the Marine Corps there is 
a place; a place of service and a place of oppor- 
tunity. The Marine Corps preserves strict disci- 
pline with comradeship between men and officers. 
In this Corps there is opportunity for advance- 
ment, unsurpassed in any military branch in the 
world, unless it be in France, and, thank God 1 we 
are imitating France in giving a better chance to 
the enlisted men. 

On the recent visit to this country of the mis- 
sion from France, I asked one of the commis- 
sioners whether the story that had been printed in 
the early days of the war on the Marne was true. 
You have heard the tale that tells the whole story 

[36] 



PATRIOTISM BEFORE BUSINESS 

of why the French people love Joffre and why the 
whole world loves him. There are great generals, 
great soldiers in every army in Europe, but no 
man has won the hearts of his soldiers and the 
world so much as General Joffre, and it is be- 
cause there is not a man in the allied forces who 
has not known that General Joffre sympathizes 
with every man struggling for liberty. 

The story was that a certain general of the 
French army of the build of General JofTre, an 
able and splendid officer of strict discipline who 
had every virtue except the virtue of making his 
men love him, and therefore he lacked the price- 
less thing, was walking down the lane and a sol- 
dier put his hand on his shoulder to speak with 
him. The general turned in stern rebuke and 
said, 'What do you mean by touching me?" 
And the soldier apologized and in his apology 
said, '1 beg your pardon, General, I thought it 
was General Joffre." 

There wasn't a soldier in France who did not 
feel a comradeship with Joffre and there isn't a 
man in the Marine Corps who does not feel a com- 
radeship with George Barnett, and Colonel 
Doyen, who is to lead the Marines who go to 
France. In one of his inimitable stories of the 
Revolution, Edward Everett Hale tells us that a 
new word came into common use because of the 
spirit of that w^ar. He said after a meeting on the 
Common to rally the young men, a youth of six- 
teen years, of education and ability, went to his 

[371 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

father and said, "Father, what is this word *In- 
dependence' I hear so much about?" Mr. Hale 
said the word "Independence'' up to that time was 
not known to be in the vocabulary, except by a 
student of the dictionary. In a moment that word 
was born and became a part of the spirit and life 
of the American people. We have been living in 
days of peace, and I would to God we could have 
continued in honor in the paths of peace. But, 
much as we love peace, we love honor and liberty 
more and are ready to fight for them. We are at 
war because we "could do no otherwise" and up- 
hold our principles as a nation. There is only one 
thing worse than death and that is for a people 
not to stand for independence, liberty and jus- 
tice. 

I have little patience with those who tell us that 
the heart of the American people is not in this 
great struggle. I tell you that from ocean to 
ocean there is agreement ; a determined and patri- 
otic resolution that we will enlist the last man, the 
last ship, and the last dollar to carry this war to 
victory, because we know it is to be the last great 
war of the world. When this conflict is over 
we shall have a parliament of man preserv- 
ing liberty and independence for the small nations 
as well as the great, and we shall look back to this 
war as the turning point in the world's history, 
when liberty and justice have been so completely 
won that they never can be jeopardized again. 

[38] 



Ill 



"uncle SAM, HERE I AM'' 

Most of us sitting in our factories, stores or offices, 
think of the Government as a separate entity, some- 
thing that does not concern us, something that is far re- 
moved from us. I wish we of every community could 
think that the Government is ourselves, and that when 
we serve the Government we are not serving some re- 
mote agency. We are serving ourselves and our sons, 
and promoting our own welfare. 

Coal Operators* Conference, Washington, June 26, 
1917. 

Just as I left the Navy Department my secre- 
tary handed me a new song, the title of which was 
"Uncle Sam, Here I am." On the frontispiece 
was a picture of Uncle Sam in his war togs, and 
standing by him in khaki was a splendid type of 
the American youth. You will find him on the 
streets of Washington, you will find him on the 
battleships, you will find him in the camps, you 
will find him in the homes getting ready for ser- 
vice, offering the utmost thing a man can offer 
to his country, his life. And I come to speak to 
you, gentlemen, because I have the faith that the 
same spirit which is actuating the more than 200,- 
000 young men in the Navy to-day and the mil- 

[39] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

lions that have signed up to enroll in the army is 
actuating you. ''Uncle Sam, Here I am" is the 
motive that has brought you to Washington to- 
day, and is the spirit in which you have entered 
upon your contribution to the national defense. 

We have witnessed in recent days rapid and 
wonderful changes. The passion of America is 
for peace, but I dare say there is not a man in 
this hall who, during the more than two years 
when the course of this nation as to whether its 
duty would call it to war or permit it to follow the 
paths of peace was in the balance, did not have the 
thought of national service uppermost in his 
mind. The day came when the issue bad to be 
met, and there was but one way to meet it. In a 
moment, with only brief debate, almost by ac- 
clamation, the American Congress, expressing 
the voice of the American people, declared that 
100,000,000 of us would speak and act and fight 
as one man. I am one of those who believe that 
Americans at heart are all alike, and that in this 
struggle in which we are engaged there is no real 
division. Now do not understand me to say that 
all people in America are in perfect harmony. 
There are a few who do not keep step to the mu- 
sic of our national air, but their number is so 
small and their influence so little that when one of 
them raises his voice against the national decree, 
the penalty for treason is so swift and sure that 
if there be others they are silenced. 

The Congress of the United States authorized 

[40] 



"UNCLE SAM, HERE I AM" 

an unprecedented issue of bonds, and there were 
not wanting men in this country, some bankers 
and others, who doubted whether the American 
people would rise to the occasion and subscribe 
those bonds. What did we see? With an in- 
terest so low as not to be attractive as an invest- 
ment, these bonds were oversubscribed. Then we 
witnessed an even greater achievement, because 
it was a contribution and not an investment. The 
Red Cross within a few weeks raised more than 
$100,000,000 to alleviate the sufferings of war. 
The traditions of this people have been against 
compulsory military service. For a hundred 
years this has been the spirit and belief of the 
major portion of Americans, and yet when the 
hour came when a new policy was demanded and 
necessary, by an overwhelming vote the selective 
draft was put in operation and more than ten mil- 
lion young men came forward and wrote their 
names on what will be for many of them the roll 
of honor, and the achievements and the sacrifices 
they make will add a new chapter to the glory of 
American history. 

There has been no sacrifice demanded that our 
people have not made, and we are but at the be- 
ginning of these sacrifices. No nation was ever 
welded until it had suffered. No friendships are 
so strong as those that are cemented with sacri- 
fice. America no longer asks for volunteers; 
every man in America is a volunteer, every man is 
cotBing forward and putting on the altar of his 

[41] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

country all he possesses. Aye, and the young 
men who have gone in the first transports to 
fight In France are giving not only all they have 
and all they are, but all they hope to be. 

So that we do not come to speak of any class 
of Americans, because there is no class. We are 
all one, living in a common country, with all we 
have in common. No man owns a coal mine, no 
man owns an oil well, no man owns a railroad. 
He is the trustee of America to manage that prop- 
erty for victory for America. Last week you saw 
in the papers that we had a two days' conference 
here with the committee of the Steel and Iron 
Institute, discussing the only problem in the 
United States to-day. There is but one problem, 
it is distribution. What part of the sacrifice, 
what part of the service is each man called upon 
to render ? When that conference was over, with 
a spirit of hearty Americanism those men repre- 
senting great interests with a harmonious and 
united action agreed that every pound of steel and 
every ton of iron was at the service of the Gov- 
ernment, to be used for our own Government or 
for the Allies or for whatever purpose should be 
necessary to win this war. As to prices, after 
some discussion about it the Government officials 
and the steel officers dismissed the subject. They 
said in substance: 'This is no time to discuss 
profits. It is a time to discuss distribution, and 
we have the faith that the Government experts 
will be so fair and just that when we hand over 

[42] 



"UNCLE SAM, HERE I AM" 

to the Government all the product of our plants 
for this country and its allies we shall have rea- 
sonable and fair profits. We want nothing more.'* 
The same spirit that actuated these gentlemen 
actuates you, and you have come out to discuss 
among yourselves, not the question of prices. 
That is comparatively an immaterial matter. All 
you wish to know about price is that your Govern- 
ment, through processes in which you have confi- 
dence, will ascertain the cost of your production 
and pay you a fair profit. The question is one 
purely of distribution. That is the question the 
Secretary and officers of the Navy are trying to 
solve — one of distribution. We have not enough 
trained officers to man the increasing navy, and 
our problem is to distribute the officers to the 
fleets, to the factories, to the navy yards, to all 
the elements that go to make a strong navy, so as 
to make it more efficient. That is the problem in 
Congress; how to distribute the burden of taxa- 
tion so that it will bear justly and equally, and 
upon those best able to pay it. Your problem, 
therefore, is the problem of everybody. Mr. Pea- 
body and his committee are laboring here to help 
you and help the Government, because you are the 
Government. I sometimes wish we could get the 
conception in the mind of every man in America 
that the Government is not something far re- 
moved from us. Most of us, sitting in our fac- 
tories, stores, or offices, think of the Government 
as a separate entity, something that does not con- 

[43] 



THE NAVY AND T^E NATION 

cern us, something that is far removed from us. 
I wish we of every community could think that 
the Government is ourselves and that when we 
serve the Government we are not serving some 
remote agency. We are serving ourselves and 
our sons and promoting our own welfare. 

Your chairman has told you the Navy is the 
largest consumer of coal. We shall need more 
coal than ever. We shall need coal for our ships 
patrolling from Halifax to the southernmost part 
of South America. Our ships will never be idle 
and will travel more miles this year than they have 
traveled in a decade. We shall carry to France 
under the convoy of the Navy thousands, tens of 
thousands, hundreds of thousands, and, if need 
be, millions of men to fight until we have achieved 
victory. And not one man can go across the 
ocean unless our ships have the coal or the oil, 
and as most of them are coal-burners, it is to 
you that we look for proper distribution. We will 
call upon every man for such portion as his mines, 
as his resources justify, because the Government 
must be fair, it must be just, or it is not your Gov- 
ernment, and every man must respond in the 
spirit of giving his just share. The man with a 
large mine or a large steel plant will come for- 
ward and say to the Government, ''I am ready." 
The man with a smaller plant must furnish less, 
but all alike each man must make his contribu- 
tion. Each will voice the words: ''Uncle Sam, 
Here I am." 



"UNCLE SAM, HERE I AM" 

Some men will call this service sacrifice. I do 
not so regard it. I regard it as a high privilege 
given to men who own the primary necessities for 
this war, to hand it over freely, in a large spirit. 
I call it a privilege to serve, and there is not a man 
within the sound of my voice this afternoon who 
in this great struggle would not feel that he was 
a slacker unless he had the right and the privilege 
to contribute all that he could command to win 
this war. 

So I come this afternoon, not to urge you or 
exhort you to any sacrifice, but to invite you to 
the mountain of privilege, the privilege of giving 
to your country, not your lives — though if this 
war shall last long no age limit will stand between 
a man and the trenches — but in the early days of 
this war to congratulate you that, as your boys go 
to the front, you are not thinking about profits, 
you are not thinking about business, except that 
the price you receive for your product shall stimu- 
late production and shall enable you to do more 
for the service of your country. You know what 
you can do, your committee working day and 
night here will help you, and I assure you the 
Government to the last ounce of its power, with a 
sense of appreciation, with a sense of justice and 
fairness, will cooperate with you in this sacri- 
fice, if you so call it, in this privilege as I call it, 
of responding quickly and generously with the 
prime necessity for winning this war. 

[45] 



IV 



"a place in the sun" 



When our eyes shall turn to behold for the last time, 
the sun in heaven (to paraphrase Webster's great ora- 
tion), they will not see him shining on a world in the 
grasp of militarism, with its accompaniment of nations 
drenched in blood. Their last feeble and lingering glance 
will rather behold the gorgeous ensign of International 
Peace through arbitration full high advanced through- 
out the earth, its arms and trophies streaming in luster, 
not a thread of the flag of any nation polluted by au- 
tocracy, not a single star or emblem obscured, bearing 
its motto, "The World Safe for Democracy." 

Breaking of Ground for Government Armor Plate 
and Projectile Factory, Charleston, W. Va., August jo, 
1917. 

This is no ordinary occasion. It is far more 
than a mere gala day ceremony ; it is, indeed, his- 
toric in the deepest and broadest sense of the 
word, for in breaking ground at this time for the 
tremendous addition to our war resources which 
will rise here in the near future I give the visible 
proof that the Navy believes that in preparing for 
a terrible war it is taking the surest means to 
bring about an early and effective peace. Let 
there be no fear that rumors of peace, or possibil- 
ities of a cessation of the struggle will cause us to 

[46] 



"A PLACE IN THE SUN" 

remit one moment our activities on sea and shore, 
in increasing our armament, in strengthening our 
fleet, and in every way preparing for the conflict. 
Not until the peace treaty is actually signed, will 
we remit one single item from our program of 
preparation. 

Our citizens need have no fear that we will be 
lulled into any relaxation, or deceived by the 
mirage of peace which is no peace, into slacken- 
ing of our activities. Within a month, in almost 
every shipyard of the country, will be heard the 
clang of hammers as, plate by plate, there rises 
on the stocks the lean black shapes of swift and 
formidable destroyers, the terror of the subma- 
rine. Even now, as we stand here, did we but 
possess some magic telephone, we could hear the 
thud of a thousand mighty hammers shaping huge 
white ingots into Navy guns, the whir of a hun- 
dred thousand lathes forming the shells that are 
our answer to autocracy. In our own navy yards, 
night and day, the work goes on as fast as human 
energy can drive. There has been sometimes 
complaint that we, as a nation, do not realize that 
we are at war, but you may rest assured that the 
Navy has no such illusion. As we, to-day, start 
building here the great structures that will house 
our armorplate manufactory of the future, so 
everywhere the Navy is preparing to-day for that 
unknown to-morrow, and will continue toprepare. 

It seems hardly necessary for me, after the 
wonderfully clear and vigorous declaration of our 

[47] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

President, to attempt to define what we are fight- 
ing for. I think it is now clear in the minds of 
every one that we fight not only for our own 
place, but for the place of every democratic na- 
tion, in the sunshine, a clear life-giving sunshine 
of real democracy, of real government for the 
people, by the people. Germany began this war 
for "a. place in the sun." It has conducted it with 
the idea that it must have the place in the sun and 
the only place. We believe there can be no place 
in the sunshine for any nation upon earth under- 
neath the ominous shadow of the Prussian Eagle, 
no sunshine even for the people of Germany them- 
selves. The historian of the future will note that 
in fighting for the right to live and grow on the 
part of our own people, on the part of Belgium, 
on the part of all the democratic nations of the 
earth, w^e are fighting also the great battle of the 
people of the German Empire themselves. Un- 
moved by possibility of material advantage or 
conquest, patient amid aggravation and aggres- 
sion, hoping against hope until the last moment 
that this madness of the Imperial German Gov- 
ernment would pass away, America has, at last, 
drawn her sword, not only for her own rights, her 
own existence, but for the very existence of free- 
dom itself upon the earth. 

The question even now^ when we are summon- 
ing all our young men and employing all our re- 
sources in the war "to make the world safe for 

[48] 



"A PLACE IN THE SUN" 

democracy" is sometimes asked, 'Why did Amer- 
ica enter this war?'^ 

The one and complete answer and justification 
is that it demands to keep its place in the sun — 
not merely for itself, for its place is so firmly fixed 
that it need never fear that any planet or power 
will shut out its glow and glory ; but a place in the 
sun for every other nation, great and small, a 
chance for all people to govern themselves and 
work out their own destiny. The broad expanse 
of our territory from ocean to ocean is blessed 
with a flood of sunshine which goldens its ripen- 
ing grain in a million fields; which smiles upon 
our great cities and busy factories of teeming in- 
dustry ; which cheers the early risen workman as 
he hastens to his toil and refreshes the jaded trav- 
eler on the mountain top as his eyes linger to 
catch the last golden gleams as the sun sinks to 
rest, leaving the world a panorama of color that 
is almost supernal. 

Three years ago, when the wearers of crowns 
doomed this world to the horrors of war, the Ger- 
man savants and philosophers told us that the 
time had come when their nation must make for 
itself a place in the sun, meaning thereby that it 
was not satisfied with its own proud place of 
wealth and expansion, but that it coveted the 
smaller places like Belgium and the larger places 
like France and wished to monopolize the wealth 
of those nations which were content with their 
own corner and had no envy of Germany's grow- 

[49] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

ing wealth. For years that efficient people had 
seen their industries multiply and their commerce 
reach the furthest shores, bringing back to the 
fatherland riches beyond the dreams of their fore- 
bears. Nobody envied them their place in the 
sun. Nobody sought to limit their wealth. The 
seas were free to their large fleets. Every port 
gave them shelter. Every country beckoned wel- 
come. Their colonies were prosperous and sent 
their most precious products to enrich those who 
lived in the palaces on the Rhine. In the western 
hemisphere, where thousands had made homes, 
there was pride in what was made in Germany 
and what the skill of its people sent to American 
markets found ready purchase. The bulk of the 
German people were proud of all they had 
achieved, were happy, contented and saw not the 
cloud on the horizon that portended the coming 
storm. But the feudal barons, ambitious to mo- 
nopolize all the rays of the sun, had long cher- 
ished the aim not only to keep their own place in 
the sun but to take from others their portion of its 
warmth and light. Militarism, which had been 
hailed as the handmaid of culture and efficiency, 
would be satisfied with nothing less than world 
dominion. The weapons had been forged. Eager 
hands were ready to use them. Greed for power 
and land, lust for the possessions of others, the 
idealization of force, and the vaulting ambition 
that the Kaiser should be supreme, took posses- 
sion of the Prussian mind. 

[50] 



"A PLACE IN THE SUN" 

In the guise of knowledge, science and indus- 
try, zest for mastery of the continents got into 
the blood of a people who had thrived on eras of 
peace. This transformation was possible only in 
a people who for generations had been fed upon 
militarism as the cure-all, and who had become 
steeped in the creed — 

"The good old rule sufficeth them ; the simple plan, 
That they should take who have the power 
And they should keep who can." 

The ascent in wealth and the descent in ideals 
Prussianized much of Germany, and when the 
General Staff ran its hand over the sword and 
found its temper as they had hoped, the stunned 
world gasped as it saw the realization of the 
threat which the world little recked was expressed 
in German feudal militarism. 

"A place in the sun'' they said was all that Ger- 
many wanted, but one bloody day in August, when 
the sun was shot through with crimson, presag- 
ing the sea of blood, the world looked to see that 
it was not the worthy and laudable aspiration for 
''a place in the sun" that animated the German 
autocracy. It was much more than that. It be- 
came plain that nothing would satisfy them less 
than the place in the sun, and the only place. 

It was in the spirit of adopting the sun as if it 
were ''made in Germany," and denying to all 
others even the chance to feel its warmth, that 
Prussianism decreed this awful war. And, while 

[51] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

thousands of home-loving and peace-loving Ger- " 
mans have hated war, the long inculcated spirit 
of accepting what those "born booted and spurred 
to ride upon the backs of others" decreed for 
them, closed their mouths as they were rushed to 
slaughter and to be slaughtered. Was Goethe 
right when he said, an hundred years ago, that 
the Germans were born brutal and civilization 
would make them savages? 

Germany has indeed won a place in the sun and 
its blistering rays beat down upon it. But it is 
not a place in that ''greater light" which God 
made ''to rule the day." The place its military 
measures have brought is in the sun of suffering 
and anguish and death. They see a sun dark- 
ened by the shadow of blood, of rage and wrong 
and sin which have followed in the train of a 
worthy ambition debased by the devouring pas- 
sion for Napoleonic dominion. The Germany 
that helped to send Napoleon to St. Helena had a 
place in the sun — the sun of resistance to vaulting 
ambition. The Germany of to-day in its govern- 
ment, its standards lowered by long vassalage to 
the Prussian military creed, has taken the place 
of the armies of Napoleon. Napoleon wanted the 
world at his feet. His militaristic successor re- 
solved that the sun should shine upon no land not 
under his sway. History will repeat itself, and 
the sun shall again shine upon a world where 
every nation shall be blessed by its light and heat, 
and where no Colossus shall so bestride it as to 

[52] 



"A PLACE IN THE SUN" 

cast his shadow upon those who look up to catch 
its glorious illumination. 

Three years ago, as the oft repeated national 
aim of Germany was summed up in the shibboleth 
"a place in the sun," it seemed a noble ambition, 
for its scholars and artists and chemists assured 
their own people and the world that their aim was 
to discover the secrets of nature, to end waste, to 
promote efficiency, to make the State the agency 
for the culture and help of all. What higher as- 
pirations could animate a nation? Under its 
sway, music and militarism seemed to lie down to- 
gether, chemistry and big guns to be twin broth- 
ers, Kultur and Krupp to be inseparable, and the 
expansion of trade to be joined to the increase of 
explosives. The Emperor boasted of the many 
years of peace under his reign which had made 
possible a greater and a richer Germany. But the 
germ of Krupp-Kultur was in the veins of the 
rulers and many of its people had been poisoned 
by its virus. You cannot sharpen an ax for a 
decade without intending to use it. No boy can 
make the blade of his knife keen without a yearn- 
ing to see how deep it will cut. No nation can 
give itself over to militarism, under Prussian 
feudal war lords, without looking for and permit- 
ting the bringing about of the day when these 
weapons will be used. Prussian love of war, con- 
cealed in talk of efficiency and veiled in the de- 
mand for "a place in the sun,'' had reached the 
logical point where it knew it must dazzle the 

[53] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

people by victories and dominion and indemnities, 
or lose its prestige. They had tired of a mere 
place in the sun. They could not brook that neigh- 
bor nations, small and unable to resist their ag- 
gressions, should bask in the same sun in which 
they grew to military masterfulness. 

America has entered this war for a place in the 
sun — not for itself, but that the sun as it shines 
over every continent and island will rest upon no 
people who have not equal rights with all other 
people to govern themselves — the little as well as 
the big to bask in the sunshine of free govern- 
ment. The place in the sun for which we con- 
tend must be free to all, with no jostling, no push- 
ing, no crowding, each nation enjoying what of 
light has come to it, with none to molest or make 
it afraid. 

What is ''a place in the sun" for a nation? It 
is simply the recognition of the truth that all 
governments derive their just powers from the 
consent of the governed, and that no strong na- 
tion must be permitted to take from a small na- 
tion one iota of its sunshine of rights, liberties 
and privileges. Belgium, in any world where 
force is not dominant, could be as secure in its 
sunshine as Russia with its vast expanse. Not 
until the general acceptance of that principle will 
any nation be able to devote itself and all its re- 
sources to making the world a better place for 
men to live in, and to bring about conditions 
where every man will be assured of the fruits of 

[54] 



"A PLACE IN THE SUN" 

his labor. Just as long as one powerful nation, 
armed to the teeth, holds to the doctrine that man 
was made for the state, and that Might makes 
Right, just so long must all peoples subordinate 
p-^aceful pursuits to making ready to preserve 
their own liberty and the freedom of all mankind. 
The day of deliverance cannot long be post- 
poned. Right will triumph and the sun of Democ- 
racy will send its rays into every land and into 
every home. When our eyes shall turn to behold, 
for the last time (to paraphrase Webster's great 
oration) the sun in heaven, they will not see 
him shining on a world in the grasp of militarism, 
with its accompaniment of nations drenched in 
blood. Their last feeble and lingering glance will 
rather behold the gorgeous ensign of Interna- 
tional Peace through arbitration full high ad- 
vanced throughout the earth, its arms and tro- 
phies streaming in luster, not a thread of the flag 
of any nation polluted by autocracy, not a single 
star or other emblem obscured, bearing its motto, 
*The World Safe for Democracy.'' It calls for 
no prophecy to see this Sun of Liberty everywhere 
shining in the effulgence of midday glory, its flag 
spread all over in characters of living light, blaz- 
ing on all its ample folds, as they float over the sea 
and over the land, and in every wind under the 
whole heavens, that sentiment dear to every true 
patriotic heart — Liberty and International Fra- 
ternity, now and forever, one and inseparable. 

[55] 



MEN MUST LIVE STRAIGHT IF THEY WOULD 
SHOOT STRAIGHT 

"To-day as never before American manhood must be 
clean and fit. America stands in need of every ounce 
of her strength. We must cut out the cancer of disease 
if v^e would live." 

Clinical Congress of Surgeons of North America, Chi- 
cago, October 22, 1917. 

There are thousands of parents in America to- 
day, with sons in the Army and Navy, who fear 
more the dangers of immoral disease than Ger- 
man bullets. Should they lose their sons in honor- 
able warfare their grief would be tempered with 
pride; but they would feel dishonored to have 
their boys incapacitated through the temptations 
of the camps at home and abroad. 

In the Navy 250,000 young men have volun- 
teered. Most of them are mere boys. There are 
a million young men, a little older, in the Army. 
These splendid fellows have left the protection of 
home at the call of their country. Their youth 
imposes a peculiar responsibility upon govern- 
mental authority, national, state and municipal. 
Congress, for the first time in history, has recog- 

[56] 



MEN MUST LIVE STRAIGHT 

nized this duty by legislation which seeks to mini- 
mize the twin evils that menace men in uniform — 
alcohol and prostitution. 

The Secretary of War and the Secretary of the 
Navy, recognizing these dangers, have exerted 
and will exert every influence at their command to 
safeguard these young men. We have appealed 
for cooperation to the civilian population in those 
communities where training stations and canton- 
ments prepare the men for war. When boys liter- 
ally poured into the Navy, upon the declaration 
of war, I felt it my high duty to keep in close touch 
with moral conditions in communities near naval 
stations. Where complaints of bad conditions 
were received I called them sharply to the atten- 
tion of the state and municipal authorities, and 
asked for assistance and cooperation in removing 
such conditions. I am happy to report that such 
assistance has in most cases (though sometimes, I 
am sorry to say, there was lacking the spirit that 
was needed) been granted, once the facts were 
made clear and the community involved became 
convinced that the Navy Department really meant 
what it said. Perhaps my attitude in this matter 
can best be illustrated by repeating certain por- 
tions of my statement of June 20, 19 17, when I 
said : — 

*'I am charged with the duty of training these young 
men for service in the Navy. State and local officers 
are charged with the duty of seeing that the laws of 
their states and of the United States are faithfully exe- 

[57] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

cuted. There lies upon us morally, to a degree far out- 
reaching any technical responsibility, the duty of leav- 
ing nothing undone to protect these young men from 
that contamination of their bodies which will not only 
impair their military efficiency but blast their lives for 
the future and return them to their homes a source of 
danger to their families and to the community at large. 
"These dangers are bad enough in ordinary times. 
They are multiplied manifold in times of war, when great 
bodies of men are necessarily gathered together away 
from the restraints of home, and under the stress of 
emotions whose reactions inevitably tend to dislodge the 
standards of normal life, and the harpies of the under- 
world flock to make profit of the opportunity. If we 
fail in vigilance under these conditions, the mothers and 
fathers of these lads, and the country generally, will 
rightly hold us responsible." 

Secretary Baker's identical stand is summed up 
in his sentence : — 



"Our responsibility in this matter is not open to ques- 
tion. We cannot allow these young men, most of whom 
will have been drafted to service, to be surrounded by 
a vicious and demoralizing environment, nor can we 
leave anything undone which will protect them from 
unhealthy influences and crude forms of temptation." 

In order that my information as to actual con- 
ditions near Naval stations should be full and ac- 
curate, the attitude of the Navy Department fully 
explained and the cooperation of such communi- 
ties secured if possible, I appointed a Naval Com- 
mission on Training Camp Activities, whose 
chairman is Raymond B. Fosdick. A similar 
commission under the same chairman has been 

[58] 



MEN MUST LIVE STRAIGHT 

appointed for the Army. Through these com- 
missions we are keeping in touch with actual con- 
ditions. By bringing these conditions to the at- 
tention of the authorities, we have endeavored to 
maintain both the naval training stations and the 
cantonments as free from vice and drunkenness 
as is humanly possible. 

These training camp commissions are also 
working along constructive lines to stimulate 
every conceivable form of recreation and enter- 
tainment among soldiers and sailors. Negative 
work is not enough; we must create positively 
competitive interests to replace the evils we are 
trying to eliminate. For that reason athletics are 
encouraged, club houses and canteens are being 
erected, and soldiers and sailors are being sur- 
rounded in the communities nearby with home in- 
fluences. These constitute some of the very effec- 
tive methods we are using in our campaign against 
venereal disease. The Young Men's Christian 
Association and other like organizations are lend- 
ing themselves earnestly to bettering conditions 
wherever young men are under training. 

The work of the Army and Navy in the repres- 
sion of prostitution and alcohol has met with 
most encouraging results. Within the last three 
months ''red light'' districts have been abolished 
in eighteen cities. New Orleans has passed an 
ordinance which will close its district about No- 
vember 15th. Many cities in which no such dis- 
tricts exist have, at the instance of the War and 

[59] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

Navy Departments, begun a vigorous campaign 
against scattered houses of prostitution. 

In establishing these purely war policies, all 
government branches are cooperating and are 
joining in an appeal to the American public to 
carry out in civil life the measures which alone 
can complete the safeguarding of Army and 
Navy. It is a great satisfaction to be able to say 
that in every state, civilian organizations are real- 
izing that their part of the campaign against ve- 
nereal disease is after all much more important 
than that of the Army and Navy. 

I do not need to remind you medical men that 
8 per cent of the total population of the United 
States is probably affected by syphilis, and that 
of all the dangerous communicable diseases gon- 
orrhea is the most prevalent. I do not need to 
dwell upon the ravages which these two infectious 
and controllable diseases are daily causing in 
the civilian population. If I have emphasized the 
interests of the Navy it is because those interests 
are my particular charge, but I wish to repeat 
that the Navy can be fully safeguarded only in 
one way, namely, by the attack on the strong- 
holds of venereal infection in civil life. Sir Wil- 
liam Osier, a competent authority and no sensa- 
tionalist, once declared that syphilis was the third 
most killing disease in the world. If we lump all 
he venereal diseases together, — and sociologically 
it is not profitable to separate them, — Dr. Osier's 
statement is altogether too conservative. As far 

[60] 



MEN MUST LIVE STRAIGHT 

as military affairs are concerned, the venereal dis- 
eases are much more dangerous than all other dis- 
eases put together. Including both direct and in- 
direct effects, it is not too much to say that in 
many cases venereal diseases have done more 
harm than all other diseases. I am glad to say 
that, because in most instances requests to state 
and local authorities have found a responsive 
chord ; although much remains to be done, condi- 
tions have improved; and at last the American 
people are awake to the necessity of facing 
squarely the social evil that is the greatest foe of 
military efficiency. 

Venereal diseases are contagious diseases, but, 
unHke other contagious diseases, their mode of in- 
fection is volitional. There are three factors 
which have had the largest influence in the spread 
of these diseases in the military service. These 
factors may be grouped under the general head- 
ings of Ignorance, Intemperance and Indifference. 

We must meet Ignorance by a sane and well di- 
rected campaign of education; the Navy has 
sought to do this by advisory circulars given to 
each recruit, and by pamphlets and other litera- 
ture which appeal to the man's best nature and tell 
concisely how these diseases are contracted, and 
their dangers not only to the men but to innocent 
members of their families. 

Intemperance has long played the role of pro- 
moting prostitution and thus increasing the 
spread of venereal disease. The Government has 

[6i] 



THE NAVY AND TJIE NATION 

endeavored to reduce this menace by eliminating 
alcoholic beverages from the cantonment and 
training station zones of the Army and Navy, and 
this measure not only will help to control vene- 
real diseases but will undoubtedly have other 
beneficial effects on the progress of training. 

Indifference has always been a most difficult 
factor to combat. In some cases it may be only 
casual, occasioned by the man's willingness to 
take a chance; but there is another class which 
cannot be impressed with the fear of venereal 
diseases or their consequences. We have tried to 
meet this indifference by regulations providing 
for stoppage of pay during the period that the 
man is ill with venereal disease. The regulation 
for the Navy went into effect last fall and it is 
somewhat early to show its beneficial results. 
There has, however, been a much lower rate of 
venereal disease since the regulation was passed, 
and we feel reasonably certain thafthe benefit 
will be even more evident when the statistics for 
a full year are available. In the Army a regula- 
tion providing for the stoppage of pay, passed in 
19 1 2, resulted in a decrease in the venereal rate, 
of from 145 per thousand in 191 1 to approxi- 
mately 86 per thousand in 19 13, the year follow- 
ing the passage of the act. In 191 5 the rate was 
only about 84 per thousand. 

In peace the loss to efficiency from venereal dis- 
ease is beyond calculation. We have no accurate 
statistics. A Canadian authority declares that in 

[62] 



MEN MUST LIVE STRAIGHT 

19 1 5, while nine Canadian soldiers abroad died 
every hour to save their country, twelve babies 
died at home in the same time to the scandal of 
their country. Venereal disease, due to the sin 
of immoral conduct, — let us have done with shy- 
ing at the world-old sin, — is deadlier than tuber- 
culosis. It is deadlier than cancer. War itself 
counts less toll of human life than this infection, 
whose ravages are more fearful than the Marne, 
Somme, Verdun, or any other bloody battlefield. 

From every nation comes evidence in support 
of this statement: Sixty thousand under treat- 
ment for venereal disease mentioned in one Aus- 
trian report; thirty-five thousand among the Ger- 
man forces during the first five months of their 
occupation of Belgium; seventy-eight thousand 
reported in late figures from the British army; 
French reports equally disturbing. If we could 
have accurate knowledge of the men sent home or 
to the rear invalided, or of the decrease in effi- 
ciency of men not put out of the ranks, the propor- 
tions would shock a humiliated people in every 
nation engaged in war. 

Indeed, there is no army whose effectiveness is 
not reduced by reason of these diseases, whose dis- 
semination is so clearly linked with the moral haz- 
ards of sexual vice. The Navy suffers likewise, 
and business halts because venereal disease de- 
stroys the manhood of workmen and fighters. 
During the last statistical year men of the Ameri- 
can Navy lost 141,378 days by such diseases. 

[63] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

This means that every day in the year an average 
of 456 men were disabled. Add to that number 
those required to care for the disabled, and we 
have enough men constantly on the non-effective 
list to man a modern battleship. And this does 
not count those who, while diseased, were not dis- 
abled, nor the evil of the loathsome danger of con- 
tagion to the clean members of the crew. 

This condition of affairs may appear to be a 
disgrace to the Navy, and it is; but communities 
that tolerate houses of ill fame, and fail to pro- 
vide for the treatment of these diseases cannot 
escape sharing the disgrace and the responsibility. 
Navy surgeons have been alert to point out the 
dangers to young men and to protect them from 
infection, and have left nothing undone to heal 
those infected. This service is required and al- 
ways given, no matter how revolting is the dis- 
ease. It must be remembered that the venereal 
diseases of which I am now speaking are not con- 
tracted on board ship, but ashore in the surround- 
ing civil life — hence the need that doctors and all 
civilians cooperate. 

This danger to a fleet naturally varies in dif- 
ferent places. One ship in the Far East last 
year reported that 44 per cent of the crew became 
infected with venereal disease of some kind dur- 
ing the cruise. It is not confined to enlisted men. 
It is no respecter in civilian or military life of 
rank or station. The most tragic result of this 
evil that has come to my attention is one case in 

[64] 



MEN MUST LIVE STRAIGHT 

recent years where a young man had to leave the 
Navy because his life had been blighted by the in- 
heritance of this contamination. He was clean 
himself but suffered by the conduct of others. I 
never knew of a more terrible fulfillment of the 
law that the sins of the father are visited upon the 
children. The tragedy of it ! 

The remedy: There is but one — continence; 
other measures are but palliative, however useful 
for the present. For ages, with criminal blind- 
ness, there has been a shrugging of the shoulders, 
and many men, and a few women, have seemed 
not to regard the sowing of wild oats as a sin, for- 
getting that in the physical as well as in the spiri- 
tual world it is true that 'Whatsoever a man 
soweth that shall he also reap." We need impress 
young men with this fact that sowing wild oats 
means reaping blind babies, and that not only do 
the sins of youth give an old age of senility to 
him, but a heritage of invalidism and defective 
posterity to his wife. Continence of young men 
must be preached in the home, in the school, in the 
marts of trade, in the pulpit and military camps, 
and among shipmates afloat. But, gentlemen of 
what I regard as the noblest profession, I beg you 
to remember that the teacher who will be heard 
and heeded when the teachings of all others fall 
on deaf ears is the physician and surgeon. Young 
men expect ministers of the gospel to call them to 
clean living. The preacher seeks to save their 
souls, and too many youths hardly realize they 

[6s] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

have souls. But they know they have bodies, and 
the doctor is the man to whom they entrust the 
treatment of their bodies. When he preaches con- 
tinence as the only rule of life to young men, and 
points out the dire penalty for lapses, his words 
have a weight no other admonition possesses. 

You, gentlemen of the medical profession, deal 
with life and death. You bring the babies into 
the world and you close the eyes of the dead. 
Yours is the ministering function, the intimate 
touch, and out of such relations you can exercise 
an amazing power of suggestion. It is this power 
that America calls upon you to use. Tell our 
youths the truth. It is a duty laid upon you, not 
by the moral law alone, but by the law of self-pres- 
ervation that operates in nations as well as in in- 
dividuals. That duty is imperative upon you now 
as never before. If you perform it, and our 
young soldiers and sailors heed your wise coun- 
sel, — and many of them will follow your teach- 
ings with lasting gratitude, — you will contribute 
more to the winning of the war than manufac- 
turers of shells. 

Addressing medical men, I would stress the 
medical side of the campaign against venereal dis- 
eases, though I do not mean to have it inferred 
that I think the medical aspect of the question is 
more important than the fundamental moral 
issue. 

The whole program for the protection of the 
officers and men of the Navy (and the same ap- 

[66] 



MEN MUST LIVE STRAIGHT 

plies to the Army and civil life), from the moral 
and physical contamination of vice and drunken- 
ness, depends to a great extent on the cooperation 
of the medical profession. Much of the misin- 
formation, under which the average man is labor- 
ing, originated with those doctors who in the past 
have advised, and those medical quacks w^ho still 
advise, that continence is harmful and that sexual 
intercourse is necessary to health. Of course the 
exact opposite is the truth, as was evidenced by 
the resolutions of an eminent body of physicians 
recently called into consultation by the General 
Medical Board of the Council of National De- 
fense. These resolutions which were presented 
to the Advisory Committee of the Council of Na- 
tional Defense, and approved April 21, 191 7, con- 
tained the statement that the Departments of 
War and Navy officially recognized that sexual 
continence is compatible with health and the only 
sure preventive of venereal infections. Two 
months later the House of Delegates of the Amer- 
ican Medical Association unanimously adopted 
resolutions embodying the same sentiments. 

In spite of the fact that the vast preponderance 
of intelligent medical opinion of this country is 
thus on record that continence is entirely com- 
patible with health, and is the only sure guarantee 
from venereal disease, there are still a few doc- 
tors, both within and without the Army and Navy, 
who believe in the old outworn doctrine of self- 
indulgence. So unmindful of their duty have 

[67] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

some doctors been, and so impervious to the best 
medical and social thought on this subject, that 
I have recently found it necessary to make an 
example of one physician in the Navy who v^as 
outspoken in criticism of the enlightened policy 
of the Navy Department, which insists on the 
protection of the men from the baleful influence 
of vice and its attendant diseases. 

Prostitution and its twin brother, drunkenness, 
must be fought vigorously and unceasingly until 
they have become anachronisms. In a generation 
we shall probably regard them as relics of bar- 
barism and wonder how any community could 
ever have tolerated practises which took such ter- 
rible toll of health, happiness and life itself, that 
filled our insane asylums, jails and hospitals, and 
left behind them a trail of social devastation hor- 
rible to contemplate. 

Continence is no longer a matter of morals 
only, though it must be enforced as the cardinal 
doctrine of morals. It has come to be seen as 
having its base in the great law of nature. New 
truths must take the place of ancient lies. We 
know now by the testimony of science that there 
is no foundation for a double standard for the 
sexes. To preach it is to preach immorality and a 
lowering of manhood. The lie that has lived so 
long must be driven out by the truth. 

We are fighting for the safety of democracy. 
Victory is jeopardized by the preventable diseases 
which destroy the fighting strength of armies and 

[68] 



MEN MUST LIVE STRAIGHT 

navies. It is our task to preach clean lives so as 
also to make democracy worth fighting for. We 
stand for a democracy which, while recognizing 
man's inherent right to self-government, insists 
that that right carries with it obligations to the 
State, most sacred in character. Those obliga- 
tions require the individual to curb his passions 
and exercise self-restraint in order that the insti- 
tution of the family, which is the fountain-head 
of the State, and from which springs all our 
noblest inspirations, shall remain pure and unde- 
filed. 

I call upon the medical profession, both within 
and without the Army and Navy, better qualified 
by knowledge and better equipped than any other 
body of men with influence and power, to assume 
leadership in this righteous crusade. Where you 
lead, government will follow, and the people will 
heed your direction when they will be deaf to the 
clarion call of all others. 

To-day as never before American manhood 
must be clean and fit. America stands in need of 
every ounce of her strength. We must cut out the 
cancer of disease if we would live. 



[69] 



VI 

youth's courage and sacrifice 

We cannot do honor to these young lads. They have 
passed to abide with the immortals. We can only gain 
strength for ourselves from their courage and their calm 
willingness to die. Out of their sublime contribution 
must come a new spirit that will gird us to follow them 
until a victory for humanity shall make their sacrifice 
more glorious. 

Naval Memorial Service, Washington Navy Yard, Oc- 
tober 28, 1917. 

As Captain Willard read the list of our dead 
heroes I am certain that we were all impressed by 
the youth of these lads. Nearly all of them were 
born in that last war in which this Republic was 
engaged. It emphasized the fact that the Navy is 
a youthful service. When the Fleet went around 
the world the average age, counting the Admiral, 
was less than 20 years, and as we meet to-day in 
obedience to the proclamation of the Commander- 
in-Chief of the Navy to commemorate the heroism 
of these lads, we think of them not as if they had 
passed away from us or as if they were lost, but 
we think of them as suddenly having ascended to 
the stars and living among the immortals. 

There is something about youth which compels 

[70] 



YOUTH'S COURAGE AND SACRIFICE 

admiration — its buoyancy, its faith, its abandon 
of self. It is an inspiration to those of us who are 
older grown, and when I think of these boys gone 
into the Great Beyond before they had reached 
maturity, I reflect how great was their contribu- 
tion to the liberty of the world, and how large is 
our debt to them. 

Recently men in America have been called upon 
to make contribution of their means or of their 
savings that the work begun by these youths shall 
not end. We have highly resolved that, old and 
young, we are consecrated to the holy service 
upon which we have entered and it will not be 
finished for us until the liberty won by the fath- 
ers for America shall touch the remotest isles of 
the sea. These young men have given more than 
all the rest because they gave not only all they had 
but all they hoped to be. Let us reverence youth, 
let us this morning have a new conception of the 
possibilities of the glory of young manhood and 
venerate and respect and honor it as we have 
never done before, because in the Navy, in the 
Marine Corps, in the Army, if you examine the 
roster you will find that this republic is looking 
mainly to boys, many of them not yet out of their 
teens, the bulk of them under twenty-five years, 
as the strength and stay of the nation. As we 
go upon our ships, as we pass through this Naval 
station, as we salute these youngsters, walking 
care-free and often, as we think, not impressed 
with the seriousness of the great work which they 

[71] 



THE NAVY AND T^HE NATION 

are called upon to do, let us doff our hats to them, 
and let us feel about them as did President Gar- 
field when he said : "I never pay particular respect 
to a man. I know what he is and what he has 
done. When I meet a youth, I take my hat off to 
him because I see in him perhaps the savior of 
his country.'' Our records have shown that in 
a great crisis we seldom have the ken to point out 
the man who will shine in the firmament. The 
hero among us is often the man polishing the 
brass on a ship or standing guard or performing 
some service not regarded as important. We look 
upon these services as commonplace and yet, 
when the moment comes, the time that tests men's 
souls, he is transformed by a glorious deed. 

These lads whose memory we honor this morn- 
ing are of a profession and a service that has, in 
nearly every war, had the sacred and solemn 
honor of making supreme sacrifice for the coun- 
try. The first line of service has been the first 
line of sacrifice. 

In one of his poems telling of the English sol- 
diers when cholera swept the camp, Kipling says, 
or rather Kipling puts into the mouth of a sol- 
dier to say of his hard task, **It ain't no Christ- 
mas dinner, but it's served and we must eat." I 
have no such conception of these lads who went 
to their death. It was not "served" to them and 
they did not take the cup because it could not 
be passed. Not one of them waited to be called. 
Each ran to meet Duty and went to his reward un- 

[72] 



YOUTH'S COURAGE AND SACRIFICE 

afraid. In the ardor of youth, meetmg death in 
daring for a holy cause, we have found in recent 
days that the fire of liberty blazes as brightly in 
America in our day as in the days of the Revo- 
lution. Each one of these valiant youths whose 
memories we honor went of his own accord to his 
rigorous duty. When the hour came he was 
ready. And their comrades who are to fight other 
battles and win greater victories are of the same 
sterling stuff. 

''Their feats, their fortunes and their fames 
Are hidden from their nearest kin; 
No eager public backs or blames, 
No journal prints the yarns they spin; 
Unheard they work, unseen they win." 

I am one of those who believe that religion and 
patriotism are one and inseparable, now and for- 
ever. When a man takes upon himself the peri- 
lous duty of going upon a naval vessel in the zone 
of danger, there rises from his heart, either 
spoken or unspoken, a prayer for guidance, a 
prayer for salvation, a prayer that he shall have 
the courage to measure up to the high traditions 
of the service and be entitled to be numbered with 
the noble men who have made sacrifices in all the 
history of our Navy. So we think of them not as 
young men called by somebody to make this su- 
preme sacrifice. We think of them as going 
forth, their hearts full of love of country and 
their fellows, willing to risk any danger, equal to 

[73] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

any emergency, eager for any service that they 
might report themselves in the great assize of the 
skies as Americans, as patriots, as v^orshipers of 
the Almighty. 

In this presence we pay tribute first of all to a 
young man who went out from this Yard, from 
this Station, from the Dolphin, John Eopolucci. 
In the bloom of youth, passing day by day through 
these streets and doing his duty faithfully upon 
his ship, he was ready to go even before we de- 
clared war, when the lives of our merchantmen 
were in danger, as one of an armed guard. First 
in the foremost line, he went down with the Aztec 
on April i, 19 17, the pioneer of those immortals 
who have given their lives for the Cause. 

Since that time a larger Navy and a great 
Army have sprung into being. But it is not only 
the men of our armed forces, not only the officers 
ready to lead where duty may command, it is our 
whole nation that is enlisted and mobilized. I 
sometimes think that it is the women, the mothers, 
the sisters, the wives, who give most and sacri- 
fice most. I love to recall the story of that brave 
woman in the decisive Battle of Lake Champlain, 
the wife of a musician, who, when her husband 
had been killed, took his place, walking undaunted 
over his dead body that she might do a valiant 
part to win the victory. 

War is a serious thing and we have entered 
upon it in America with no lightness but with a 
feeling and determination that life is a sweet 

[74] 



YOUTH'S COURAGE AND SACRIFICE 

thing, dear to us. But dearer than Hfe is the duty 
every man owes his country, and the larger and 
glorious privilege which men have of dying for 
such a country, a country whose flag has never 
been raised in any cause that was selfish, that 
was small or mean. When he fights under that 
ensign it is a flag of freedom, of independence. 
In the Spanish-American War it was a flag of 
hope, a beacon of promise to our near neighbors 
in the Island of Cuba, and when that war ended 
and we had made sacrifices as we are making 
them now, the world stood uncovered because this 
nation sought no selfish return. Its only spirit 
and purpose was to secure peace, happiness and 
home rule to a long suffering island. And in this 
war, when it is ended and we shall look back upon 
it to a world freed from greed, from autocracy, 
when all the earth enjoys the blood-bought right 
of self-government so precious to us, as we then 
think about the peace gained will you also reflect 
that there is nothing in the world worth while 
that has not cost blood and travail and sacrifice? 
We cannot do honor to these young lads. They 
have passed to abide with the immortals. We can 
only gain strength for ourselves from their cour- 
age and their calm willingness to die. Out of 
their sublime contribution must come a new spirit 
that will gird us to follow them until a victory 
for humanity shall make their sacrifice more glo- 
rious. Let us here this morning resolve that they 
shall not have died in vain, and as we give our 

[75] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

loving sympathy to those who loved them most, 
and as this nation pledges itself that it will never 
permit wife or mother of sailor or soldier to be 
in want, but will give out of its large prosperity 
all that may be needed to prove the gratitude of 
this grateful Republic, let us all utter a prayer, 
the prayer which Kipling made — 

"The earth is full of anger, 

The seas are dark with wrath, 
The nations in their harness 

Go up against our path: 
Ere yet we loose the legions — 

Ere yet we draw the blade, 
Jehovah of the Thunders, 

Lord God of Battles, aid!" 



i7^^ 



VII 



TO MAKE, NOT BREAK, PRISONERS 

In the Navy discipline is essential for effectiveness. 
It is so in the family ; it is so in life, and I think that in 
this age the one thing needed more than anything else 
in the home, in the school, in the Navy and everywhere 
is an acceptance that efficiency, strength and self-re- 
liance depend upon discipline, and the only discipline that 
is perfect, or as near perfect as can be, is self-discipline. 

Old-time methods of punishment have passed away. 
It is with you to say what you will do with your lives. 

Portsmouth (N. H.) Naval Prison, Sunday, Novem- 
ber i8, 1917. 

I HAVE sometimes said that if anything could 
cause me to doubt the goodness of God it would 
be that He gives to boys the passions of men 
without the mature strength of manhood. I know 
boys. I know their temptations, and their weak- 
nesses, and I know particularly how those tempta- 
tions assail young men away from home. I some- 
times think this world would almost revert to the 
savagery of old if it were not for the better in- 
fluences of our mothers and of the women of our 
families which uphold and make us strong. Be- 
cause of our love for them we put behind us our 
temptations. 

l77^ 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

When they leave home in young manhood and 
boyhood, without these helpful sources and those 
''apron strings," so to speak, on their hearts, 
many lose themselves. You often hear it said 
that a man has 'lost himself." But that is not 
a correct expression. If a man goes into the 
forest and gets lost, he says he has lost himself. 
The fact is he has lost everything except himself. 
And so it is with young men. We say "they lose 
themselves." They do, indeed, lose control of 
themselves. They lose realization of themselves. 

In the Navy, discipline is essential for effec- 
tiveness. It is so in the family; it is so in life, 
and I think that in this age the one thing that is 
needed more than anything else in the home, in 
the school, in the Navy and everywhere is an 
acceptance that efficiency, strength and self-re- 
liance depend upon discipline ; and the only disci- 
pline that is perfect, or as near perfect as can be, 
is self-discipline. 

That is what most of you have lacked. You 
have not put a curb upon your appetite, your pas- 
sions or your desires, and you have made mis- 
takes; mistakes that you have, no doubt, every 
one of you regretted. If we have the strength in 
us of rehabilitation and right thinking, we regret 
the mistakes. But unfortunately there is a dif- 
ference between the man and the weakling. The 
man who makes a mistake seeks to repair it. The 
man who commits a wrong has wisdom and judg- 
ment, knows he must pay the penalty for it, and 

[78] 



TO MAKE, NOT BREAK, PRISONERS 

he does not take the penalty as something im- 
posed upon him as a punishment, but as a signal 
and a help to right-about-face and walk toward 
the light. 

You were not brought here for punishment, 
but to come face to face with yourselves ; to look 
into your hearts and minds and reflect upon 
what you have done. No one looks down upon 
you, no one regards you as having committed an 
offense that must forever bar you from society. 
Here you have opportunity to strengthen your 
character and your purpose that you may go forth 
from here into life through this discipline strong- 
er and better men. You have seen men whose 
faces had lines of pain, suffering or sorrow upon 
them, but in their hearts the very suffering they 
had endured had purified them. 

In the work in the Navy we must have disci- 
pline, and if the men have not put discipline upon 
themselves it must be imposed upon them. There 
will not be much need of enforcing discipline if 
young men acknowledge the necessity of keeping 
step in marching, and in work, and in keeping 
their minds upon their duty. 

So I have come this morning to spend a few 
hours with you because of my deep interest in 
American manhood and particularly the men who 
responded to the call of the Navy. 

We have a great personnel in the Navy; we 
have many young men who have in them the mak- 
ing of fine sailors but who have failed to do 

[79] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

right. You have, by a false step or by an 
immature and rash act, violated regulations, and 
made it impossible for you to perform the duties 
you were called upon to do. I am here this morn- 
ing to tell you boys that, as the head of the Navy 
for the time being, I have the deepest interest in 
you and the most earnest desire that every one 
of you shall say to yourselves, "I will persevere 
in my hope; I will strengthen myself; I will put 
aside from me everything except duty, honesty, 
and straightforwardness and respect for author- 
ity, which is the basis of all law; I will go into 
life, and this detention will be to me the strength- 
ening of my spirit and purpose to make a man 
of myself." 

This must be your spirit and purpose. Be- 
cause of my great interest in young men like you 
I asked Mr. Osborne to come to Portsmouth and 
make a thorough study of what I call ''modern 
methods'' of dealing with young men who have 
made mistakes or have done wrong. The policy 
of the Navy is to make, not break, prisoners. I 
know you feel that in Mr. Osborne and the officers 
there is human interest in you. We are all hop- 
ing and praying that the God in the Heavens will 
give you new strength and new courage to go 
out from this place strengthened in soul and 
strengthened in purpose, to do again what you 
had the ambition to do when you came into the 
service. Old time methods of punishment have 
passed away, never to return. It is with you to 

[So] 



TO MAKE, NOT BREAK, PRISONERS 

say what you will do with your lives. A man 
does not get something for nothing. I cannot do 
much for any man in the Navy. Neither the Ad- 
miral nor Mr. Osborne nor Mr. Hill, with their 
earnest desire to serve you, can do anything for 
you except to open the door — the door of oppor- 
tunity, of hope; the door for rehabilitation, for 
service. It is for you to say whether you will 
walk through that door with clean lives and an 
earnest desire to serve your country and make 
men of yourselves, the sort of men your mothers 
prayed you would be when you were little boys 
at their knees. On this holy Sabbath morning I 
wish you would turn your minds back to your 
homes, to the instruction of your mothers and try 
to lift up a prayer that all the sweet influences of 
early life may come to you this morning, and 
you may carry back with you in your work, in 
your studies, in your self-discipline the things 
that your mothers hoped for you and prayed 
would come into your lives. And I beg to say 
that the spirit of the Navy, so far as I may be 
able to interpret it, in every place high and low, 
is for each man to put himself in the place of the 
other man. 

If I know my heart, every time a court-martial 
case comes before me I try to think of myself in 
the place of the man on trial. I try to think of 
his temptations; I try also to think of his physi- 
cal infirmities. I try to think of all those asso- 
ciations of evil that have enticed him and 

[8i] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

carried him away from the right path. When 
you come here I always have in my heart a sad- 
ness which would utterly depress me if I did 
not have with it the hope and prayer that you 
will, in this time of contemplation, resurrect 
your high spirit of self-discipline and resolve and 
that in these days of detention you will forge 
your lives into the kind of lives which as boys 
you meant they should be. And may I say to 
you, as one who believes in the God who rules 
this world, that you may not hope to fully carry 
out any resolutions you make — no matter how 
firmly they are made — if you depend entirely 
upon your own power and will. No man lives 
who is strong enough always to do right unless 
he invokes the guidance of the good God for help 
and strength in the hour of trial. 



[82] 



VIII 

THE POISON OF PESSIMISM 

There are diseases, so the doctors say, carried in 
every wind that blows : there are deadly germs that well 
men breathe a thousand times a day without any ill 
effects upon their bodies. But the minute our systems 
become weakened, the minute our natural buoyancy and 
vitality become lessened, these same germs find a lodg- 
ing-place and we become stricken with the malady. It 
is so with this poison of pessimism which every German 
spy in America is spreading broadcast through the land. 

Southern Society Banquet, New York, December 12, 
1917. 

We have entered into this war with no pas- 
sion, no envy, no prejudices, no desire for any- 
thing that belongs to any other man or nation. 
No shibboleth of hate, or semblance of it, has 
been raised. When our ships have been ruth- 
lessly sunk and women and children have been 
murdered, we have firmly determined to make 
the seas safe and never to rest until the men re- 
sponsible for these crimes are punished and made 
im.potent to repeat them : but in all America there 
is no flame of rage, no passion for vengeance, no 
hatred of the people of Germany who have been 
made the instruments of bestial warfare. We 

[83] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

have looked beyond the men under the sea whose 
piratical acts shocked civilization, and vv^e have 
seen that they were the pawns and agents of a 
Juggernaut which compelled them to commit 
murder or themselves to face the death squad. 
A long imposed autocratic imperialism has 
made German soldiers efficient vassals of ven- 
geance. Now and then, as when certain sailors 
threw their captain overboard in the vain at- 
tempt to save their souls from under-sea slaugh- 
ter of children, there has been an attempt to re- 
volt against the most highly organized internal 
tyranny the ingenuity of subsidized service could 
impose. But ingrained submission, trained skill 
in the use of the weapons of war, and the certain- 
ty of cruel destruction by even the whisper of 
protest to this enforced barbarism, have made 
the Kaiser's war machine a potent thing of evil. 
We have seen this monster destroy small states, 
ravage peaceful territories, and seek to incite the 
w^hole world to sedition and murder. Yet, deep 
as is our determination that the world shall never 
be dominated by Force, it is the glory of America 
that its voice is the voice of Resolution and Jus- 
tice, and not of Hate and Vengeance. May we 
not hope, should we not pray, that no matter how 
great the provocation, the American people will 
ever keep out of their minds and out of their 
hearts any passion of hate toward those who war 
against the world's justice and the world's peace 
and the world's civilization? Is it expecting too 

[84] 



THE POISON OF PESSIMISM 

much, when hundreds of our men have been done 
to death by this merciless machine, that we shall 
preserve our souls in restraint and freedom from 
despising those who are now our enemies? 

If we can press this war to victory — counting 
nothing worth while except securing enduring 
peace — if we can do this without our own souls 
going down to the abyss of hate, our nation will 
have risen to a glory hitherto deemed impossible 
among men. Mind you, I counsel no smooth 
words in describing the murderous deeds con- 
ceived by the German autocrats. I favor no 
quarter for the men responsible for the world 
war, though as to them our attitude should not 
be one of hatred. Napoleon coveted the earth. 
His personal ambition made Europe reek with 
blood. His fate must be the fate of those who 
make his bloody career their admiration and who 
have followed in his footsteps. France through 
travail came to know and to embrace free govern- 
ment. We shall stay in this war until Germany 
shall see its war lords deposed, and we shall live 
to see that capable people freed from the master 
of militarism that has made every home a house 
of mourning. To this accomplishment — because 
until it is accomplished no people can be safe un- 
der their own vine and fig-tree — America has 
pledged its sacred honor, and to that pledge every 
man, every resource and every dollar are dedi- 
cated. I use the word dedicated advisedly, be- 
cause it is a holy consecration of all that we are 

[85] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

and all that we have to which we are committed. 
Can we permit passion and hate to mar our holy 
cause and our unselfish devotion ? 

What must be the shibboleth of this war for 
America? Many suggestions have been made, 
some of them borrowing the spirit of vengeance 
that wars have always produced. Not long ago 
a great newspaper in the Middle West offered a 
prize to the person who would suggest the shib- 
boleth that would inspire soldiers and sailors to 
fight until victory is won. There were many an- 
swers to the request, ranging all the way from 
the expression of bitter hate to the meaningless 
slogan of the mollycoddle. The judges finally 
awarded the prize to the one who proposed, 
''Freedom, for all, forever." In those few words 
are summed up the whole spirit and purpose of 
every democratic nation. We are fighting to 
preserve Freedom. We know what that means. 
It was blood-bought and can be preserved for no 
people except by eternal vigilance. We are fight- 
ing for Freedom, not to obtain it for a favored 
few or for a group of nations. It must embrace 
mankind; it is for all. There must be no metes 
and bounds set to it, no territorial limitations, no 
exclusion of any. But we go further. Freedom 
for all is not enough. This war may bring this 
blessing to those who fight for it, but in a dec- 
ade other ambitious autocratic monsters might 
rise up and by military machines deprive some 
of the freedom our arms ha^^e helped to win for 

[86] 



THE POISON OF PESSIMISM 

all. We must not only secure freedom for all — 
we must safeguard it, we must insure it, we must 
guarantee it, we must make it so safe that no 
power can ever place it in jeopardy. Whatever 
is required, it must be perpetuated and made en- 
during. It must bless mankind forever. This 
shibboleth embraces our noble aims, our broad 
conception of the world's need, and commits us 
to such sacrifice as may be needed to preserve it 
without the possibility that it may be of uncer- 
tain duration. 

''Freedom, for all, forever" has no touch of 
hate of the foes of freedom. No greed tarnishes 
that shibboleth. Under that banner men will 
march to victory with a nobility of purpose and 
an unconquerable spirit. It will be a benediction, 
giving added strength and power to every man 
in arms, for he will fight in as holy a cause as 
inspired those who went in quest of the Holy 
Grail. 

The leading question on every tongue to-day 
is, ''What can I do to help win this war ?" Nat- 
urally that question is addressed to those en- 
trusted with the problems of the military arms 
of our Government. You eagerly hope that the 
way will be made clear to those eager and anxious 
to do their part in bringing this terrible conflict 
to a triumphant conclusion. I know that if I 
should ask every one of you sitting around me 
to-night what you would rather have me say 
above all things, your reply would not be words 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

of praise of your society, or general summaries 
of our military situation, or discourses on mat- 
ters of high strategy, or elaborate dissertations 
on world politics, but you would ask me for a 
definite answer to the question that is uppermost 
in all your minds these days — ^Where lies my 
duty? How can I best serve in this day of need? 
I do not doubt you are all doing all that you can, 
all that you have been told, all that you can think 
of to do, and I know that what I wish to speak 
about particularly to-night is something which 
mxany of you already have realized or are already 
doing to the best of your ability at this moment. 
But there may arise a danger greater than that 
of submarines or cannon, more to be feared than 
the power of armies, a danger which will become 
no longer a danger when it is realized, but which 
is dangerous because, until too late, it may not 
be recognized as a real and great peril. 

I speak of the danger of pessimism, of losing 
heart, of growing discouraged, the danger of al- 
lowing oneself for one minute to doubt that Right 
in this war will triumph or that democracy has 
not been born to suffer extinction at the hands of 
a German autocrat. It is part of the German 
propaganda. It is perhaps their most effective 
weapon to spread throughout the countries op- 
posed to them tales of imaginary defeats, of fatal 
deficiencies in the military establishments which 
never existed, of superhuman resources of the 
German Empire, and a thousand and one things 

[88] 



THE POISON OF PESSIMISM 

all tending to shake that sane conviction of the 
impossibility of the Wrong triumphing over the 
Right which we must retain, if we are going to 
win this war. We are sending many men to help 
our allies, we are sending many ships, we are 
pouring out liberally our national wealth to the 
cause, but more than men, more than ships, more 
than money, must our war-weary associates 
across the water rely on this strong young coun- 
try for that boundless courage, that optimism 
which sees and understands the worst and yet 
fears not, which they will need more and more 
as time goes one. If we falter, if we grow dis- 
couraged, if we for one minute admit that there 
is but one answer to the question of how this 
war will end, how can we expect those whose 
fortitude, whose endurance is already being tried 
to the utmost, to stand fast in the faith? And 
this is something which each one can do as an 
individual, which we must do as individuals, be- 
cause it is something we cannot do by presiden- 
tial authority or Acts of Congress. When our 
gloomy friend sits across the desk and pours 
forth his tale of woe, whispering, perhaps, some 
spy-spread rumor of disaster and adds his fear 
that all is not well, it is for us, by our own firm 
conviction to dispel his gloom, to dissipate his 
anxiety, to encourage his wavering spirit, and 
to send him out of our office with renewed con- 
fidence to take up his task in unshaken faith of a 
triumphant outcome. 

[89] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

There are diseases, so the doctors say, carried 
in every wind that blows ; there are deadly germs 
that well men breathe a thousand times a day 
without any ill effects upon their bodies. But the 
moment our systems become weakened, the mo- 
ment our natural buoyancy and vitality become 
lessened, these same germs find a lodging place 
and w^e are stricken with the malady. It is so 
with this poison of pessimism which every Ger- 
man spy in America is spreading broadcast 
through the land. So long as, with clear vision 
and healthy minds, we look unflinchingly at the 
future, we realize that as long as our great coun- 
try and the great countries of our allies retain 
the will to win, they cannot lose. But let us give 
way to a foolish and needless discouragement, 
let us permit ourselves to become mentally de- 
pressed, and we will find that every fresh He saps 
visibly our power to conquer. 

And now, having asked you to encourage 
others, let me, speaking as one whose official 
duties require him to know, encourage you by 
giving you my solemn assurance that you might 
search our most secret archives at Washington 
in vain for any records of disaster or even minor 
military casualties that have not been spread 
broadcast through the public press. Nor will 
you find in all our records any just ground for 
discouragement, but on the contrary, could you 
read the full tale of what is going on to-day, you 
would feel proud of what our country has 

[90] 



THE POISON OF PESSIMISM 

achieved already towards the certain winning of 
this war. It is not alone the men in office, the 
men wearing the uniform, the men charged with 
official responsibility whose zeal and efficiency in- 
spire optimism. These alone could not win the 
war. Our confidence is based upon the mobili- 
zation of all America, business men, artisans, 
farmers, who have enlisted as truly and freely 
and unreservedly as the young men who have 
answered the call to the colors. In their whole- 
hearted consecration and in their united spirit 
of sacrifice in our homes is a power that justifies 
our faith and vindicates our optimism. 

America has never drawn the sword except 
for liberty; it has never sheathed it except in 
victory. Let us lend no ear to the whispering of 
pessimism or the doubts of disloyalty. Let us 
never doubt that clouds will break and enduring 
peace will shine upon mankind as the result of 
the courage and faith of valorous men. 



[91] 



IX 



WAR AGAINST JUNKERISM 

Labor itself has more to win and more to lose than 
any other group in the United States. Progress has al- 
ways been, is now and always must be, the hope of labor. 
Any condition of life that forbids struggle and aspira- 
tion is a condition that bears most heavily upon the 
mass of people, for it dooms them to an endurance of 
evil that might otherwise be attacked successfully. 

Alliance for Labor and Democracy, Lexington Theater, 
New York, February 22, igi8. 

This is not the war of a government, of an 
administration, nor yet of those at the head of 
the war-making branches, but for America it is 
a war of 110,000,000 people. 

It is true, indeed, that this war is not the war 
of any one class or section in the United States, 
and equally true that the obligation of individuals 
to the National Service is not quaHfied by cir- 
cumstances. In the last analysis, however, the 
major burden falls upon the shoulders of labor, 
for while executives in high places may plan the 
tasks, it is the hands of the worker that must 
drive the rivets, fell the forests, mold the metal, 
and provide the motive force for the vast ma- 
chinery that expresses the indomitable resolution 
of a free people. 

[92] 



WAR AGAINST JUNKERISM 

The need of the hour is ships. The hammer 
that strikes a rivet is every whit as effective as 
the machine gun on the firing Hne itself. Not 
only ships for the Navy but ships for the mer- 
chant marine. Our soldiers must go across the 
sea, supplies must go with them, and to those na- 
tions fighting side by side with us against the 
Imperial German Government must be sent the 
food that is absolutely vital to the maintenance of 
their military strength. 

Every man who fires one shot at the enemy 
when he might use a machine gun, every man 
who fails to be on the firing line when the need 
is sorest, and every man who drives one rivet 
when he might drive two, is a Benedict Arnold in 
his heart and in his soul, for slacking, delaying 
and sullen indifference is a treachery that may 
cost the life of our brothers and our sons. 

In the factory where guns are molded and 
munitions made, in the shops where clothes are 
cut and finished, in the forest where stands the 
virgin timber for our ships and aeroplanes — 
there as well as in France are the battlefields 
where the workers of America must prove them- 
selves heroes or stand shamed before the world 
as traitors. 

Let no man forget that he must live with him- 
self—that he must also live with the children who 
will question him in future years— and how will 
he answer himself, how will he answer his sons, 

[93] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

if he can only confess neglect and cowardice in an 
hour of trial? 

When labor was struggling to secure its pres- 
ent position of influence and responsibility, its 
slogan was, ''The injury of one is the concern 
of all." Led on by that great rallying cry, it 
climbed to a strength and power. To-day, when 
all that we hold sacred in life is in peril, that cry 
must ring out again with even greater force and 
reach, for threatened injury is not to the indi- 
vidual, but to the system of government that has 
blazed trails to the heights. 

Labor is called to the colors as much as any 
soldier, and any sailor. Your contribution to the 
National Service is as great as that rendered on 
the firing line, and in many respects just as 
heroic. Through the bitter winter that has just 
passed, I have seen thousands of men working 
steadily in the cold and in the snow, and the 
country is coming to realize that there is a glory 
in this as well as in the spectacular courage of the 
battlefield. 

There is no attempt, and there will be no at- 
tempt to employ those methods of oppression and 
coercion practiced by the German autocracy. 
There is no need either for the conscription of 
workers or the conscription of capital. You are 
free men, and the Government appeals to you 
as free men, and we feel that your answer will 
be the same as that cried to the world by those 

[94] 



WAR AGAINST JUNKERISM 

free men of 1776 who chose the bitterness of sac- 
rifice rather than the comforts of slavery. 

It is easy for me to understand the suspicions 
and distrusts that crowd the mind of the average 
worker in connection with war. From the first 
dawn, the masses have been pawns in every strug- 
gle, and warfare has ever been made an excuse 
for setting back the hands of progress, for every 
possible abridgment of human rights, and for 
the largest possible measure of reaction. It is 
not so to-day. 

Never before in the history of human strug- 
gle, have the reactions of war been guarded 
against so carefully as in this day when America 
fights for her life. There is not a single body 
with any executive power in the Government at 
Washington that does not have upon it a repre- 
sentative of labor, sitting side by side with the 
representative of the employers, and having equal 
voice in all those decisions that are concerned 
with the human element in industry. A trade 
unionist, William B. Wilson, is Secretary of 
Labor; Samuel Gompers is a member of the Ad- 
visory Commission of the Council of National 
Defense; John P. White of the United Mine 
Workers sits side by side with Doctor Garfield 
in the Fuel Administration; Hugh Frayne is a 
member of the War Industries Board; and the 
President of the Building Trade Unions is on 
the Emergency Construction Board that builds 
our ships. 

[95] 



THE NAVY AND TPE NATION 

In the next few days, the first of a series of 
historic meetings will be held in the office of the 
Secretary of Labor at Washington. Five repre- 
sentatives of the great employing interests and 
five representatives of the workers of America 
will meet in an honest effort to agree on prin- 
ciples and policies which shall govern relations 
between employers and workers during the war, 
in an effort to set down a program that shall safe- 
guard every right and defend every duty. Wher- 
ever wages are concerned, or hours of labor or 
working conditions, there is a board in exist- 
ence upon which labor has equal representation, 
and every voice of protest and discontent in the 
United States to-day is heard in Washington and 
heeded. 

Consider, for a moment, the repeated declara- 
tions of the President in favor of an equal and 
exact justice; measure up for yourself the laws 
that have given effect to these declarations, and 
investigate carefully every activity of this Ad- 
ministration in connection with industry, and you 
will tell all doubters that it is wise to put aside 
any possible suspicion and distrust, resting confi- 
dent that your rights are in safe hands, and that 
the Administration and Congress alike are de- 
termined that democracy shall not perish at home 
while we fight for it abroad. 

This is not only a war in defense of our free 
institutions, a war in behalf of all humanity, but 
it is a war against war. I say to you, out of my 

[96] 



WAR AGAINST JUNKERISM 

deepest conviction, that labor itself has more to 
win and more to lose than any other group in the 
United States. Progress has always been, is now, 
and always must be, the hope of labor. Any con- 
dition of life that forbids struggle and aspiration 
is a condition that bears most heavily upon the 
mass of people, for it dooms them to an endur- 
ance of evils that might otherwise be attacked 
successfully. 

A victory by German arms cannot but mean 
a deathblow to the free thought of the world, for 
its effect will be to put progress in shackles. Let 
Germany triumph in Europe, then the United 
States is committed inevitably to defensive prep- 
arations that will command every effort in the 
interest of our military strength. Year after 
year, an increasing number of men will have to 
be withdrawn from peaceful pursuits to fill the 
army, and year after year an ever increasing 
number of battleships will have to be builded and 
manned in order that our coasts may be protected 
from raid and invasion. 

The whole country, as I see it, is in the grip of 
a vast change. Old prejudices are disappearing, 
class distinctions established by wealth are being 
wiped out, and a splendid fraternity is growing 
in strength. This war has given wings to prog- 
ress. Social theories formerly branded as dema- 
gogic are now accepted without question. 

It is the day of the open mind. It is true that 
evils persist. Profiteering continues, extortion 

[97] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

has not been suppressed, and there are still men 
in America who put their bank accounts above 
their country and above their God. But the at- 
tack upon these evils is steady, honest, and ag- 
gressive, and the day is not far off when the last 
will have disappeared. 

I am not a pessimist where Americans are con- 
cerned. All this appearance of irritation, of dis- 
unity, of anger and recrimination is a surface ef- 
fect entirely. Deep down in the heart of Amer- 
ica to-day is the heroic heart of Valley Forge 
and Gettysburg. A little study in comparative 
values is something that will help us all. 

We must learn to study comparative values. 
Much space is given to that employer who puts 
greed above patriotism, and to those workers who 
strike without recourse to the methods of concil- 
iation and arbitration. It is well, indeed, that 
they should be attacked, for both alike aid the 
Kaiser and betray America. Head-line art- 
ists "play up" a story where a thousand men go 
out on strike, but it is no news when a million 
men, in the blasts of winter, forge essential 
weapons for winning the war. And small space 
is taken to tell of the thousands of employers who 
are laboring without thought of profit, and of the 
millions of workers who toil unceasingly with- 
out ever a thought than that of country. 

Gradually during the past year, under the lead- 
ership of the United States, as voiced by our 
President, the aims, motives, and ambitions of 

[98] 



WAR AGAINST JUNKERISM 

all our Allies in this struggle against Prussian 
Autocracy, have become crystallized and clari- 
fied, and all minor issues swept aside, until to- 
day no one doubts what we are fighting for and 
why. 

We are fighting that "Liberty may not perish 
from the earth;" that the right of the governed 
to have a voice in the government may be pre- 
served; that justice to the individual may not 
give way to the tyrannical oppression of brute 
force ; and for the principle that because a man or 
a nation, by sheer strength, can do a thing it has 
no license because of that fact to do it unless it 
is also a proper and a just thing to do. In other 
words, the United States, as spokesman of the 
allied world, voices the principle that the Demo- 
cratic form of government is worth spending the 
lives of millions of men and billions of treasure 
to preserve. This is our reason for being to- 
day in arms. It has been agreed to by our allies 
as an all-sufficient reason for them as well. 

And as we have laid down this one great cardi- 
nal principle as our justification, so it devolves 
upon us as a nation to see to it that the Democ- 
racy for which we fight is a Democracy worth 
fighting for. If it is to be this kind of a De- 
mocracy, it must be founded on mutual trust and 
confidence. Democracy and intolerance, or De- 
mocracy and suspicion, cannot live in the same 
body politic. Now to my way of thinking there is 
no test so infallible of the character of a gov- 

[99] 



THE NAVY AND TJHE NATION 

ernment as the relations between labor and capi- 
tal that grow up under it. That government is 
most successful, is most worthy to continue to 
exist, under which labor and capital work hand 
in hand and side by side for the mutual good of 
not only the nation as a nation, but for the mutual 
advancement of every person, rich and poor, in 
that nation in their ''pursuit of happiness." 

Labor and capital alike, all over the world, look 
to the United States to point the way towards 
the ideal government I have described. Prus- 
sian Autocracy is to-day waving the spectacle 
of Russia before its military-ridden laboring 
classes as an example of Democracy freed from 
the grip of military despotism. In Russia itself, 
freed from centuries of enslavement, possessed 
with a passionate desire for liberty, but with as 
yet no constructive voice to formulate that desire 
and to bring it about. Labor looks to us to-day 
to lead them along the right path to a true Re- 
public. 

Better far for the aims and machinations of 
the Prussian military tyrants than the loss of all 
our transports or the failure of all our war plans 
would it be to have labor in this country lose that 
fine self-control, that sense of justice which has 
so far bitterly disappointed all the Kaiser's plans 
and predictions, and enter upon a period of strife 
and mutual misunderstanding which would bring 
all our fine talk of the priceless value of Democ- 
racy into disrepute. It has confounded its ene- 

[lOO] 



WAR AGAINST JUNKERISM 

mies at home and abroad. Upon you depends 
more than success in this war, depends the even- 
tual triumph of the freedom of the individual 
throughout the whole world. Your task is not 
an easy one, it is not a simple matter for the sake 
of the great cause for which you are fighting, for 
the sake of the great cause of Labor itself, to be 
slow to provocation, to submit to the little irrita- 
tions, to arbitrate in cases where you have the 
might to win temporarily by force. But you 
have wise men at the head of your councils, and 
there is nothing that America is quite so proud 
of to-day as the splendid showing of wise, cool, 
far-sighted patriotism made by those whom you 
are trusting as your leaders. 

It is an open secret — I can talk about it freely 
now— that the real hope of the Prussians that 
America would never be effective in this war lay 
in its fatuous belief that labor could be so irri- 
tated by insidious propaganda, so misled by 
hired agitators, as to insure nation-wide strikes, 
almost upon the declaration of war. Far bitterer 
than the failure of the submarine to sweep the 
seas has been the failure of the German spy to 
tie this great Republic hand and foot by stam- 
peding labor, organized and unorganized, into 
something very nearly approaching a social revo- 
lution. 

Labor will continue its same wise policy, and 
when this war is over it will have won its own 
fight as well. No hidebound capitalist of that 

[lOl] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

type which is so rapidly disappearing in this en- 
lightened time, who made the name "capitalist" 
something of a reproach, will dare then to rise 
and seriously announce his belief that labor 
should be suppressed with an iron hand. He will 
have no standing in the court of last resort — 
Public Opinion. For capital and labor are be- 
ginning to understand each other and are find- 
ing each other not one tithe as bad as they have 
been painted. I can give you specific instances 
in the last six months of manufacturers who sat 
at my desk and confessed, after they had been 
persuaded, with a persuasion that was sometimes 
rather insistent, to confer with labor, that they 
had found to their very great surprise that the 
American laboring man, when he sits down to 
talk things over calmly with you, is a very human 
and a very reasonable sort of citizen. And the 
number of manufacturers regarded by labor as 
being reasonable and human is increasing every 
day. 

We are getting together, and when we get to- 
gether and the last mutual misunderstandings 
and suspicions are cleared away, not all the power 
of the German Army, not all the thunder of the 
German guns, can shake the triumphant progress 
of real Democracy throughout the whole world. 



[102] 



X 

THE BLESSING OF NATIONAL UNITY 

Out of the tragedy of this war, we must believe, as 
we have faith in God, some blessing will come to the 
world. Already in America we have received the bap- 
tism of national unity. There is no longer in this coun- 
try any division. We are united and we have resolved, 
Catholic and Protestant, Democrat and Republican, East- 
erner, Westerner and Southerner, that neither religious 
creed, nor political bias, nor section nor principalities, 
nor heights nor depths shall ever separate us again as a 
nation. 

Launching of Catholic War Fund Campaign, New 
York, March ly, ipi8. 

Nothing pleases me so much as to attend a 
launching, and if I could leave my task in Wash- 
ington, we are launching so many ships these 
days, I would have no opportunity for any other 
duty. I congratulate you, Cardinal Farley, in in- 
augurating this campaign. You have honored 
the Navy by appropriating the term "launching," 
a strictly naval term, to describe the beginning 
of this drive for the Catholic War Fund. I count 
myself happy to speak to the Knights of Colum- 
bus. What those words imply in adventure, in 
that spirit of enterprise that discovers continents 
gives us a new conception of Christian chiv- 

[103] 



THE NAVY AND TJIE NATION 

airy! There has been no chivalry which has 
touched and blessed the world and no time when 
knighthood was in flower that did not catch its 
inspiration from the Christian religion. Tenny- 
son must have thought of such an organization 
when he wrote those words so descriptive of its 
spirit and its purpose : 

"To break the heathen and uphold the Christ, 
To ride abroad avenging human wrongs, 
To speak no scandal, no, nor listen to it, 
To honor his own word as his God's, 
And live sweet lives of purest chastity." 

The Knights of Columbus, born in the spirit 
of this Christian chivalry, with all the good this 
organization has accomplished, has now engaged 
in a larger work that shall bless and help not 
only the brave and chivalrous men of this Order 
and this Faith, but with a catholicity broad 
enough to take in all men will open the doors of 
its places of recreation and uplift to every man 
who wears Uncle Sam's uniform. 

I bring to .you to-night the appreciation and 
the thanks of the Commander-in-Chief of the 
American Army and Navy — that patient and 
firm and resolute President, who bears burdens 
greater than were ever imposed upon any man 
since the days of the immortal Lincoln. 

I bring you the thanks of the distinguished 
Secretary of War, now on the sacred soil of 
France, conferring with American officers and 

[104] 



THE BLESSING OF NATIONAL UNITY 

with the officers and heads of all the Allied gov- 
ernments, to hasten forward the glorious victory 
which is certain to come to our side ! 

I need not tell you how grateful the Navy is 
for all that your order and your church has 
done for the uplift of the youth in the Navy. 
The Navy is a boy institution. When the fleet 
went round the world, the average age of every 
man in that fleet, including ^'Fighting Bob" 
Evans, was under 20. When you look into the 
faces of these lads, clear of eye, firm in muscle, 
and strong in purpose, you are helping to enable 
them, in the perils of the deep, where they fear 
neither storm nor enemy, to bring forward a 
victory that shall add new laurels to a Navy that 
has never failed the American people! 

Cardinal Farley has told you that there has 
come in America an innovation with respect to 
soldiers and sailors, and that our Government is 
the first upon earth that has sought in practical 
ways to safeguard the morals of the young men 
who hasten to the ranks. 

It was not always so. You have heard of the 
Army in Flanders, and when men talk of pro- 
fanity, they say, ^'Swears like the Army in Flan- 
ders." During that campaign, there is a story 
that chaplains were not always welcomed, and 
those who went to preach and teach the young 
soldiers had little opportunity, and nothing of the 
appreciation we give them now. 

Among the traditions of the church to which 

[105] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

I belong is that of a Methodist preacher named 
Haynes, one of its old-time saints, who, with- 
out permission, without authority, and almost 
on sufferance, followed the boys from his village 
into Flanders and preached to them against the 
evils that pollute and destroy young manhood. 
And he was so effective that the young men 
drank less, but being an old-fashioned Methodist, 
he had them ''shouting." Old time Methodists, 
when they shouted, were not very careful whom 
they disturbed, and the Colonel sent for this self- 
appointed chaplain, and said, "Mr. Haynes, you 
are disturbing the regiment. You must stop 
this business of preaching." And this man of 
God, turning to the colonel, said, "Colonel, you 
have a commission from a King to command men 
in the army. I have a commission, sir, from Al- 
mighty God, and I am commissioned to tell 
you, Colonel of the Royal Regiment, that unless 
you repent of your sins and lead a better life, you 
will die and go to hell !" 

The foundation stone upon which this Repub- 
lic was erected is freedom of religion. The 
American people of every creed would die gladly 
before they would give up the doctrine that they 
have a right — every man — to worship God ac- 
cording to the dictates of his own conscience. 
The Government may, and does, appoint chap- 
lains and I wish to thank my distinguished friend 
and one of my valued spiritual advisers, Bishop 
Hayes, for the assistance he has given both armv 

[io6] 



THE BLESSING OF NATIONAL UNITY 

and navy in selecting from the Catholic Church 
able and devout men who are leading the young 
men in right paths. But though we may ap- 
point chaplains, representing the creeds of all 
men in the service, we may not, we dare not say 
to any man, what faith he shall profess. And, 
therefore, we come to you, Your Eminence, and 
to the leaders of every faith in America, repre- 
senting the Army and Navy, and throw open our 
camps and our training stations, and invite you 
to come in and minister to men according to the 
faith and creed in which they have been reared 
and in which they can best worship their God. 

Out of the tragedy of this war, we must be- 
lieve, as we have faith in God, some blessing will 
come to the world. Already in these United 
States we have received the baptism of national 
unity. There is no longer, in this country, any 
division. We are united and we have resolved, 
Catholic and Protestant, Democrat and Republi- 
can, Easterner, Westerner and Southerner, that 
neither religious creed, nor political bias, nor 
section, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things 
to come, nor heights nor depths shall ever sepa- 
rate us again as a nation. 

Sometimes they tell us when the woes of this 
war seem overwhelming, that Christianity has 
failed, and pessimists say, ''The Church no long- 
er can be looked to, because, loving peace, war 
has come." In this hour, the only thing that 
has not failed is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

[107] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

Not many years ago, before he held public of- 
fice, in a public address President Wilson, speak- 
ing of a distinguished officer whose robust faith 
inspired his army, said : *'This great general did 
not dare go into battle without asking the bless- 
ing of Almighty God/' And he added rever- 
ently, "I don't understand how any man can ap- 
proach a discharge of the duties of life, without 
invoking the guidance of the Lord." 

This nation was founded on faith in God. In 
the days of prosperity, many of us seemed to 
forget it, and there were not wanting men who 
seemed to have no use for the church, except 
when they asked its holy office in matrimony, or 
when they were buried. But they never dared to 
ask the woman of their choice in the holiest es- 
tate without invoking the blessing of the church 
they neglected. 

Christianity is the only power under heaven 
that has not failed. For fifty years in the Ger- 
man Empire ^'higher criticism" and "new 
thought" and materialism have put Christianity 
aside. And it is because the Junkers and the 
professors and religious leaders of Germany had 
forgotten God and the old Gospel that they 
turned to militarism and materialism. 

It is a great pleasure to join with you in launch- 
ing this ship. I have no doubt that it will be so 
perfectly put together with strong bands of faith, 
that when it goes down the ways it will sail over 

[io8] 



THE BLESSING OF NATIONAL UNITY 

the seas, carrying blessings to-morrow to hun- 
dreds of thousands of men in arms. 

One word more : How long is this terrible war 
to last? The answer to that has been given 
by Cardinal Farley. It will last until a victory 
has been won by force of arms or until the Ger- 
man people renounce forever autocracy. And to 
this work which has been cut out for us we have 
consecrated our lives — our boys are prodigal of 
their lives ; they keep nothing back, they give their 
all, and they look to us to know whether at home 
the people are supporting them. 

They are coming back one of these days — 
most of them; and those who do not come will be 
buried in graves wet with the tears of a hun- 
dred million Americans. And those who come 
back will return to make this Republic a better 
and greater nation than it has ever been. 

It is that they shall be shielded from tempta- 
tions peculiar to youth, it is that their manhood 
shall not be sapped, it is that around them shall 
be thrown our love and protection that we have 
gathered to-night, and for that you will con- 
tribute generously, freely, gladly, and when you 
have given — aye, even all you have — you will not 
have given a hundredth part as much as the 
humblest lad who goes to France and offers his 
life. 



[109] 



XI 

THE TEST OF AN AMERICAN 

We do not ask where an American was born. We care 
not what his creed, or what his estate. The supreme 
test for an American is : Does he love this country bet- 
ter than any other country under the sun? and will he 
gladly give his life to preserve the liberty which has 
blessed mankind? 

Society of the Sons of St. Patrick, New York, March 
i6, ipi8. 

The Navy is rich in heroes — men who "go 
down to the sea in ships," fearing neither the 
gale nor the foe. It is a priceless heritage their 
daring bequeaths to their country. They had 
the vision, did the early sea-going men, of a 
greater America. Better than landsmen they 
had a keener perception of what freedom of the 
seas — our "pillar of cloud by day and pillar of 
fire by night" — meant to the colonies. While the 
hardy pioneers of the interior were felling trees 
the men of the coast were sailing to far-off coun- 
tries, bringing home rich prizes which laid, deep 
and broad, the foundations of the wealth of New 
England. It was a short step from cruising in 
commerce to going forth on men-of-war. Small 
craft, built for fighting and for trade, were 

[no] 



THE TEST OF AN AMERICAN 

quickly converted into fighting ships when the 
right of America to govern itself and sail the 
seas was called in question. 

On St. Patrick's day we meet to honor a saint 
of courage and patriotism. At heart we are all 
hero worshipers. "We cannot," says Carlyle, 
'look, however imperfectly, upon a great man 
without gaining something by him. He is the 
living light-fountain, which it is good and pleas- 
ant to be near." I bring you to-night the name 
and fame of a fighting Irishman — John Barry, 
the first commissioned captain in the American 
Navy. But he was not the first American sailor 
to capture a British armed schooner. That honor 
belongs to another Irishman, Jeremiah O'Brien, 
assisted, on May nth, 1775, by his four broth- 
ers, some other Irishmen and a few others of 
English birth. The first decisive victory on land 
in the Revolution was won under an Irish Colo- 
nel, a descendant of Roger O'Moore, at Moore's 
Creek bridge in North Carolina. 

The story of our Navy is replete with deeds 
of high emprise, of what sometimes looked to 
prudent men as rash adventure, of mastery over 
wind and wave, and of victories won by the sheer 
force of audacity and daring and dauntless cour- 
age. In every war the Navy has shone resplen- 
dent. The deeds of brave sailors have given it a 
safe and abiding anchorage in the confidence and 
affection of the people. The Army is massive, 
ponderous, powerful, and from Washington to 

[III] 



THE NAVY AND TjHE NATION 

Pershing has fought to win and preserve Amer- 
ican independence and American ideals. I don't 
forget that Irishmen have been first on land as 
v^ell as on sea. Four months before Lexington, 
led by John Sullivan, whose father came from 
Limerick, the colonists made an armed attack on 
land against the British and captured arms and 
ammunition at Portsmouth, New Hampshire. 
The Army is justly proud that it was another 
Irishman, Gen. Richard Montgomery, of the 
County of Donegal, who was the first general of- 
ficer to give his life in 1775. He fell leading the 
attack on Quebec. It was an Irish general by the 
name of Andrew Jackson, who won the battle of 
New Orleans; an Irish general by the name of 
Phil Sheridan, "riding like a god of war'' into 
the thickest of the fight, winning victories; and 
another Irish general, Shields, the one com- 
mander who was matched against ''Stone- 
wall" Jackson, that intrepid Irish soldier of the 
South. The Sixty-ninth regiment, made up ex- 
clusively of Irish, lost more men in killed and 
wounded than any other regiment from the Em- 
pire State. 

I come to speak to-night of the Navy, more 
particularly of a naval hero, who embodied the 
valor and the virtues that we love to believe are 
best illustrated in men of the naval service. I 
have elected to tell the story of our first captain 
of the Navy because we never appreciate at its 
true measure the qualities that make a noble char- 

[112] 



THE TEST OF AN AMERICAN 

acter until we see them in flesh and blood. The 
Navy is an institution! There she sails, the in- 
trepid and invincible defender of our liberties. 
As an institution, it receives our approval and 
our respect. But the Navy of men of the salt sea 
gale — of John Barry, of John Paul Jones, of 
Perry, of Conyngham, of O'Brien, of Blakely, 
of Cassin, of Rowan, of Dornin, of Monaghan, 
of Macdonough, of Decatur, of Tattnall with 
'^blood is thicker than water"; of Monahan, of 
Haggerty, of Coleman, of Mulligan, of Sullivan, 
of Farragut, of Dewey — how these and like 
names of heroes, whose names live in the realm 
of romance as in history, and whose deeds thrill 
the heart and stir the pulse, make the Navy a liv- 
ing thing we love as well as honor and trust in as 
the savior of the Republic. It is to look with me 
into the very heart of an Irish captain who, with 
the ink hardly dry on the first commission ever 
given an American naval officer, won victory 
against odds. The lesson of John Barry's life 
must furnish the topic of what I shall say to- 
night to a society devoted to the traditions, the 
romances, the glory and the service of the Irish 
race. Perry and Decatur were the sons of fight- 
ing blood. Mahan, who founded a new school of 
naval historical writing and was the naval au- 
thority of this generation, traced his lineage to 
the Emerald Isle. Thomas Macdonough, who 
won the decisive sea battle in the War of 1812-14, 
was the son of a patriot from Erin. The country 

[113] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

rang with his praise then, and upon the centen- 
nial of his notable victory I shared in doing honor 
to him when trying to tell the story of the sig- 
nificance of his sea-fight on Lake Champlain. 
Perhaps no more reverent and modest dispatch 
was ever written by a commander than was sent 
by that fighting Irishman. It was in these words : 

"U. S. Ship Saratoga, 
"Off Plattsburg, Sept. ii, 1814. 
"Sir: 

"The Almighty has been pleased to grant us a signal 
victory on Lake Champlain in the capture of one Frigate, 
one Brig, and two sloops of war of the enemy. 
"I have the honor to be, 

"Sir, your ob'd serv't, 

"T. Macdonough, Com." 
"Hon. W. Jones, 
"Secretary of the Navy." 

Macdonough gave the glory to the Almighty, 
and there was nothing of the "Me und Gott" in 
that telegram; no boasting, nothing of self. All 
was gratitude to his God and rejoicing for his 
country. Other naval commanders will shortly 
be sending other messages of achievement in the 
days of the glorious victory which awaits Ameri- 
can prowess. May we hope that they will emu- 
late the brevity, the reverence, the simplicity of 
that Irish victor. Is it too much to hope that 
some day this spirit of modesty may even enter 
the German lines and induce the Kaiser to give 
the Almighty at least an equal place with himself 
in his proclamations ? 

[114] 



JHE TEST OF AN AMERICAN 

T^ Barry was only fifteen years old when he 
reached these shores ''to grow up with the coun- 
try." The free life on the sea made any govern- 
ment imposed by others a bondage to him. When 
he landed in Philadelphia he came to stay. He 
brought his undivided loyalty and allegiance with 
him. He was no bird-of-passage immigrant, 
coming to get all he could and sacrifice nothing. 
He became a full-fledged American from the 
crown of his head to the soles of his feet — heart, 
head and soul were bound up in the affection he 
gave to the country whose spirit of freedom 
beckoned him from his island home. Like hun- 
dreds of thousands of others from Erin, he gave 
proof of the truth uttered by the Marquis de 
Chastellus, who said: "An Irishman, the instant 
he sets foot on American soil, becomes ipso facto 
an American.'' In this particular the Irish set 
an excellent example to all who make their homes 
in the United States. Though Barry loved his 
native land to the day of his death, he was 
first, last and always an American ready to fight 
for his country and he fought valorously for it 
against even the nation from which he came. He 
was no "fifty-fifty" American, taking all he could 
gtt and giving as little service as possible. He 
was all American. Patriotism keeps no books. 
There are no credits and debits between one's 
country and the place of his birth. 

From the first the hospitality of America has 
been generous and hearty to all who came to 

["5] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

these shores. Its strength has come from the 
welcome it has given to men out of all the stocks 
of Europe. It never dreamed it would harbor 
any who brought it a divided affection, much less 
that it would ever hug to its bosom any who were 
ready to give it the poisonous bite of the serpent. 
The intrigues and conspiracies uncovered in re- 
cent months have revealed the fact that men 
bearing the honorable name of American were its 
worst foes. But the number has not been large, 
and their exposure has taught two good lessons : 
first, that it is impossible to hide treason and dis- 
loyalty, and second, that the day has arrived 
when men who enjoy the privileges of America 
must renounce all other allegiance. 

There is no place in this country to-day for any 
man who is not ready to give all he is, all he has, 
and all he hopes to be to bring victory to Ameri- 
can arms. Nobody need ask what John Barry 
would have thought of a citizen of America who, 
when his country was at war, could, even in 
thought, much less in deed, lend aid or comfort 
to its enemies. That valiant young Irishman 
would not have advocated the comfortable intern- 
ment of such disloyalists; he would have given 
them short shrift, and naval regulations, as in- 
terpreted by him, would have effectually silenced 
treason in every shape or form. 

America for Americans! That is the senti- 
ment of the hour. We do not ask where an 
American was born. We care not what his creed 

[ii6] 



THE TEST OF AN AMERICAN 

or what his estate. The supreme test for an 
American is: Does he love this country better 
than any other country under the sun? and will 
he gladly give his life to preserve the liberty 
which has blessed mankind ? No man loves any- 
thing for which he would not die. John Barry 
did not talk much about his love for his adopted 
country. Words unless accompanied by action 
are of no value. Barry offered his service, his 
sword, his knowledge, his life in proof of his 
wholehearted allegiance. Such holy and undi- 
vided allegiance and willingness to sacrifice as he 
displayed must stimulate us all, as in this hour 
of our country's need we are ready to lay our all 
of possessions and of life upon its altar. 

We are realizing in the greater Navy of our 
day more than our fathers did that the gulf for- 
merly fixed between the man on the bridge and 
the man below decks must be spanned. The day 
has come when democracy, with discipline, must 
prevail in the military service as in all American 
life, if we would secure the best results. Napo- 
leon said, "Every soldier carries a baton in his 
knapsack.'' In our country we have opened the 
door of opportunity so that every youth in the 
American Navy may aspire to the stars of an Ad- 
miral and realize his worthy ambition. It has 
been said that America is Opportunity. That 
truth has been rarely better established than in 
the life of Barry. Who could have predicted, 
when the unknown Irish lad landed in Philadel- 

[117] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

phia, that he would win the high place in the na- 
val service of his country, that a century and a 
half later, in the midst of the greatest world war, 
men would pause to gain inspiration from the 
story of his courage upon the sea and his robust 
Americanism ? 

John Barry fought "to make true peace his 
own,'* and not because he glorified war. He was 
a deeply religious man. Patriotism and religion 
in every age have been inseparable. Carlyle truly 
observed that ''in every sense a man's religion is 
the chief test with regard to him. If you tell how 
he is spiritually related, you tell me to a very 
great extent what the man is, what kind of things 
he will do.'* Barry had been brought up in the 
habits of our Christian religion. He cultivated 
them through life. On board ship he enforced a 
strict observance of divine worship, scrupulously 
looked after the moral deportment of his crew, 
and gave them the daily witness that he practiced 
the religion he professed. No sermon can ever 
equal the life of a consistent Christian. It speaks 
more convincingly than any logic or precept or 
homilies. Barry's happy ship was the fruit of 
his upright life, and his zeal for the welfare of his 
men was the flower of his faith in God and in the 
brotherhood of man. 

Most sailors are men of faith as they are men 
of few words. They live with the elements. On 
the midnight watch the stars are their compan- 
ions and in the early morning the glorious burst 

[ii8] 



THE TEST OF AN AMERICAN 

of sunrise compels their reverence. They walk 
on the deck, conscious of perils, and realize that 
life and death are not far removed. Rarely has 
any sailor denied the truth of revelation. In al- 
most every dispatch the honor of victory is at- 
tributed by naval victors not to their prowess, 
but to the God of battle. The separation from 
their fellows which their profession imposes 
throws them upon the sense of reliance upon a 
higher power — that divine Power which rules the 
world. With our feet firm upon Mother Earth, 
we often forget that God rules. But on the sea, 
the vision is clearer, and God's greatness rises 
above all the works of man. 

And now on the eve of the holy Sabbath I give 
you as an example the career of John Barry, the 
intrepid fighter, the modest Christian, in whose 
character and life will be found a story worth 
more than a thousand sermons. Now that the 
tragedy of tragedies has caused its shadows to 
fall athwart many homes in America, men are 
turning as never before to faith in an overruling 
Providence, men whom we had supposed were 
materialists and who have given little thought to 
the church and the faith and have not been fixed 
in their faith in immortality, have had a new 
revelation because they cannot see their sons go- 
ing into this glorious war and to death in service 
without the hope of meeting them again. Let us 
devoutly thank God that America to-day is united 

["9] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

behind these boys and for the principles for which 
they are ready to give their lives, for, as sure as 
God reigns, victory will crown courage and con- 
secration. 



[120] 



XII 

KNIGHTS OF OUR NEW DAY — THE NAVY IN PEACE 

In many ways the Navy has demonstrated its neces- 
sity as a peace institution, and its contribution to the 
spread of knowledge, to the extension of commerce, by 
opening up new doors to hitherto unknown peoples: to 
the discovery of new worlds, to the charting of the seas, 
to pioneer work in securing victories through diplomacy, 
to the study of the stars, to decreasing the time of ocean 
voyages and cheapening traffic by sea — in these and many 
other ways the Navy has been a leader, and all the 
world is debtor to it, because, aside from its place as a 
fighting machine, it has been a pathfinder in the days 
of peace. 

National Geographic Society, Washington, March 2p, 
1918. 

In popular acceptance the Navy is a fighting 
organization. Unless it is ready to fight and win 
victories, it fails of the main purpose of its exis- 
tence. Its chief aim and object is national de- 
fense. In time of peace it studies and learns, and 
in time of war it practices the art of naval war- 
fare. In the naval service men are in training 
for a generation to fight perhaps for only a single 
day. But such a day ! 

There has been, on an average, one war in 
every twenty-nine years of our national life, and 

[121] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

in most wars the naval engagements can be count- 
ed by minutes. Men, therefore, spend most of 
their careers getting ready for the supreme mo- 
ment. It may never come, but woe to that officer 
who lacks in initiative and coolness and courage 
in the one moment when all he has learned and 
practiced is worthless unless he can summon it to 
his command upon the instant of decision ! Great 
generals have won renown who were masters of 
the defensive and there are times when Fabian 
methods on land spell victory. But at sea, the 
captain who depends upon defense is lost. Offen- 
sive methods, daring attack, ability to maneuver 
so as to obtain the advantage, and to shoot quickly 
and hit the enemy vessel — these are the essentials 
of high command afloat. They are attained only 
because the Navy, in its shore establishments and 
afloat, is maintained and operated for the sole 
purpose of increasing the fighting efficiency of 
the fleet. 

The Navy as a fighting agency, as the embodi- 
ment of power, as the protection of the country 
from aggression is to-day the pride and the reli- 
ance of America. But that Navy can speak for 
itself, is speaking for itself through its more than 
three hundred thousand men and thousand ships 
in active service, and will speak with greater em- 
phasis when the hour comes for which all other 
hours have been but preparation. Never did a 
nation have more right to be proud of its Navy 
than now, and never were fighting ships manned 

[122] 



KNIGHTS OF OUR NEW DAY 

by men of such skill and courage as our fleet is 
to-day. Let us send to them across the ocean, in 
their vigils and in their perils, a message of cheer, 
a message of confidence, and a message of pride. 

In times such as these we naturally think only 
of the fighting side of the Navy. But just as we 
need, in the construction of a battleship, to apply 
the work of more trades than are used in any 
other single structure built by man, so the Navy, 
in its organization, utilizes most of the arts and 
sciences andproduces as a by-product, so to speak, 
of its main work, many results which are of gen- 
eral interest and application in the maritime, en- 
gineering, industrial or purely scientific fields. 
As examples I would recall to you the work of the 
Naval Observatory, the Hydrographic Office, the 
Experiment Station at Annapolis, with its me- 
chanical and engineering laboratory; the Naval 
Consulting Board, composed of eminent invent- 
ors; the working out, in the navy yards, of me- 
chanical problems whose solutions are of value 
to industry and shipping, the study of scientific 
problems and international law at the Naval 
War College; the contributions of the Navy to 
the science of navigation; of the Medical Corps 
to medical science. 

In the intervals between wars the Navy has not 
found its only occupation in practice and drill 
and maneuvers, in simulated warfare, making 
ready against the day when it would be helpless 
unless it is completely prepared. In many ways 

[123] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

it has demonstrated its necessity as a peace insti- 
tution and its contribution to the spread of knowl- 
edge, to the extension of commerce, by opening 
new doors to hitherto unknown peoples; to the 
discovery of new worlds, to the charting of the 
seas, to pioneer work in securing victories 
through diplomacy, to the study of the stars, to 
decreasing the time of ocean voyages and cheap- 
ening traffic by sea — in these and other ways the 
American Navy has been a leader, and all the 
world is debtor to it, because, aside from its place 
as a fighting machine, it has been a pathfinder in 
days of peace. 

Though through the smoke and gas and dark- 
ening of the heavens by death-dealing bombs, we 
may not see even its dawning, our faith looks be- 
yond the roar of battle to the quiet days of peace 
that will once again smile upon a world made bet- 
ter — let us trust and believe — by the sacrifice 
which men who love liberty have been forced to 
make lest "might should rule alone/' I doubt 
not that we shall live to see the day when Peace 
will once more beckon us and we can take up 
again the mighty works of discovery and ex- 
ploration which in other peaceful days have been 
so large a part of the daily task of our American 
Navy. 

When, with a world-wide horizon, our America 
is once again happy, youthful with the zest of 
discovery, who will be our heroes? We will not 
find them in the staid statesmen of other days 

[124] 



KNIGHTS OF OUR NEW DAY 

who thought that the Alleghanies constituted the 
furthest outpost of possibilities and that beyond 
the Mississippi was a country not worthy of ex- 
ploration; who hugged the chimney corners of 
the Atlantic seaboard; scoffed at Jefferson for 
the vision that caused him to send Lewis and 
Clark to that new land "where flows the Ore- 
gon," or saw nothing to make their pulses thrill 
in the voyages of discovery which were made by 
Wilkes and Perry, Lynch and Lee, Page and 
Ringgold, Rodgers and Hall, Herndon and Self- 
ridge, Todd and Hodges, Schley and Peary, and 
scientific research along original lines by Maury 
and Pillsbury and other like explorers, and naval 
diplomats like Perry, who, in this day would be 
well called ''forward-looking men." 

Notable examples of the Navy's contributions 
to science and exploration are found in the 
careers of Charles Wilkes, Matthew Calbraith 
Perry and Matthew Fontaine Maury. These 
naval pioneers of the past — whether charting the 
waters of China and securing the treaty with 
Japan, like Perry ; discovering the Antarctic Con- 
tinent and contributing more to the world's 
knowledge of geography than any other man, 
like Wilkes ; or making navigation a science, fore- 
casting the weather, mastering the mysteries of 
the winds and currents, uncovering the knowl- 
edge of ocean meteorology, and making the phe- 
nomena of the Gulf Stream known to us, like 
Maury — these are the type of men who will be 

[125] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

reincarnated in the adventurous youth of the 
golden days of discovery which challenge the in- 
trepid and ambitious, who, when this war is over, 
will be satisfied with no rest until all the secret 
places are flooded with the light and all cheerless 
homes blessed with the comforts of our newer 
and better civilization. 

When the war ends, and a stable peace based 
upon government only by the consent of the gov- 
erned has everywhere been established, the men 
who will sail the seas will neither go on voyages 
of conquest nor for the exploitation of peoples 
of other nations. They will be true knights, not 
going forth with that romantic chivalry which 
lacked practical knowledge and science. These 
Knights of our New Day will be fired not with 
less noble purpose, but with more seasoned and 
practical ideals than those celebrated in song and 
story. These adventurous spirits will indeed ride 
abroad to redress wrongs, but they will not carry 
sword and spear, or be hampered with mail and 
burdened with clanking armor. They will be, 
first of all, men of the sea, who, noting the toll 
of human life demanded by ignorance of winds 
and currents and ocean paths and harbors, will 
make safe the navigation of all the waters of the 
earth. Their weapons will be charts and com- 
passes and buoys and signals and lighthouses, to 
the end that men who go down to the sea in ships 
may do so in safety from any hidden rock or 
treacherous shoal. They will study the life of 

[126]' 



KNIGHTS OF OUR NEW DAY 

Maury and his charts. They will consecrate their 
lives to his mission of shortening ocean traffic 
and lessening dangers to navigation, by the em- 
ployment of every agency which science, study 
and experience afloat may make available. But 
safe navigation with these modern knights of sea 
communication will be only the ends to the larger 
means, for they will utilize these pathways of the 
seas for the interchange of products and ideas 
that will make the people of the whole world part- 
ners in all that man has made and all that man 
has learned. National lines will indeed remain 
and love of home-land still grip the hearts of men 
of varying climes and different tongues. The 
tower of Babel will not be torn down. We will 
not return to one volapuk. No knight-errantry 
will seek to compel men to speak the same lan- 
guage, and thereby lose to the world the folk-lore, 
the traditions, the literature that mark the growth 
and illustrate the life of every nation. But lines 
of national suspicion and distrust of other na- 
tions will be obliterated as these new knights con- 
vince all to whom they carry their faith and their 
wares that no selfish ends tarnish their invisible 
armor, and that their mission is one of hastening 
the sway of universal brotherhood based upon 
universal justice. 

We may not expect all nations to accept the 
tenders of worldwide brotherhood in the spirit 
in which it will be tendered by the Twentieth 
Century-after-the-war chivalry. Therefore all 

[127] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

the peace-loving nations must enter into an inter- 
national agreement neither to throw away their 
guns nor to tie up their warships, but to make 
them one common international peace police on 
land and sea, tendering to all nations, great and 
small, the High Court of Arbitration for the set- 
tlement of all differences, ready to enforce the 
decrees of that tribunal and make this police 
force so strong that no war lord will dare ever 
again to resort to the sword to impose his will or 
his country's greed upon other nations. 

These practical Knights of Peace and Jus- 
tice will master the secrets of earth and sea and 
sky for the comfort and improvement of the race. 
They will let no water power remain unhar- 
nessed. They will draw the nitrates from the air 
to enrich the earth. They will utilize present 
agencies of production so that plenty will bless 
mankind and unlock the secrets of nature to in- 
crease production faster than population makes 
demand for food and raiment and comforts — 
aye, and luxuries, also; for the best is none too 
good for all who labor. Discoveries now un- 
dreamed of will respond to the master touch of 
men of genius and we shall transport without loss 
from one continent to another the products and 
wares that will add to human happiness. These 
new knights of science and industry the New Day 
will usher in will prevent any fruits or vegetables 
going to waste in the tropics that would please 
the palate of any man in the furthermost North. 

[128] 



KNIGHTS OF OUR NEW DAY 

Waste will be eliminated from pole to pole. Gov- 
ernments, instead of being required to spend bil- 
lions on arms, will raise large sums for the crea- 
tion of instrumentalities of education and re- 
search and scientific production until no man who 
labors will lack anything that will give nourish- 
ment or add to his happiness. Selfish individual- 
ism will be replaced by enlightened cooperation. 
And whatever any nation produces that is good 
will be made available without profiteering to 
men and women in every other nation. Chemists 
and workers in ordnance and in making muni- 
tions will be freed from making agencies of de- 
struction so they may carry on experiments and 
operations to multiply all things that will sustain 
and make life more abundant instead of increas- 
ing the butchery of the race. Education of all, 
medical treatment without cost, and free hospi- 
tals for the aged and infirm — the real tests of 
civilization — will be universal. Teachers and 
physicians and preachers will be honored above 
captains of wealth and exploiters and politicians. 
These will be some of the fruits of the peace 
that will bless the earth when ''the Parliament of 
Man, the Federation of the World" comes to us. 
And it will come — let no man doubt that. Men 
and women in this gathering will see the prophecy 
fulfilled in their day when 

"No one shall work for money and no one shall work for 

fame 
But each for the joy of the working," 

[129] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

and for the benediction which unselfish labor for 
others will give to this old world which will be 
born again. 



( 



[130I 



XIII 

THERE IS NO RANK IN SACRIFICE 

College men, boys out of humble homes who perforce 
were apprenticed only to toil, farm boys and sons of the 
rich have marched side by side, sailed through submarine 
infested and mined waters, and out of mutual peril have 
been fashioned into comrades and partners in serving 
mankind. This kinship in war will abide in peace, mak- 
ing the America of the future stronger and more united 
than at any time since the Revolution. 

Yale University, New Haven, Conn., April i8, igi8. 

We must find in all tragedies some compensa- 
tions, and the compensation that brings to me the 
greatest thrill and the greatest humility is the 
spirit of the twelve million young men in America 
under thirty-one years of age. Three or four 
years ago it was no uncommon thing to read 
sometimes in the press, and to hear sometimes in 
the pulpit and on the forum that Americans had 
lost the vigor and love of country that character- 
ized the men of '76 and the men of the 6o's. 

They told us that the young men of our day 
were frivolous or ambitious for wealth ; that they 
had their hearts so set upon play and making 
money that they would no longer be willing to 
make sacrifices for their country. And some 

[131] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

people believed it! And if this war had not 
come, the youths of our age might have gone to 
their graves dishonored by this unworthy and un- 
just thought on the part of many Americans. 
But since the call came there has never been a 
minute in the Navy that we did not have two men 
when we needed one. And then the call in the 
selective draft came. Young men left their ca- 
reers; they left the farm with the plow in the fur- 
row; they left the factory; they left the bank; 
they left college by the thousands and proved 
they were the same stuff as their fathers and 
grandfathers. I like that word "stuff"; I do not 
know whether the "highbrows" would think it 
was the proper word or not, but it means more 
when you speak of a young man as having 
"the stuff in him," than any other word in the 
English language. From no source did the Navy 
receive fitter men than those trained in the Yale 
unit. They brought trained minds to their new 
tasks and peeled potatoes and took reckonings 
with equal enthusiasm and equal efficiency. Col- 
lege men, boys out of humble homes who perforce 
were apprenticed only to toil, farm boys and sons 
of the rich have marched side by side, sailed 
through submarine-infested and mined waters, 
and out of mutual peril have been fashioned into 
comrades and partners in serving mankind. This 
kinship in war will abide in peace, making the 
America of the future stronger and more united 
than since the Revolution. 

[132] 



NO RANK IN SACRIFICE 

And the boys of America have gone in ever-in- 
creasing numbers, and, seriously, when you see 
the sailor boys, nearly 400,000 of them now, keep- 
ing the road open to France — (that is their job, 
and they are doing it as well as any men who ever 
lived)— when you see them marching jauntily 
and cheerfully with the rhythm of music, don't 
think they are not serious. Don't assume that 
beneath their cheerful smile they are not looking 
death in the face and realizing it. They are ready 
for the supreme sacrifice. 

What is true of the men in the Navy is true 
likewise of the young men in the Army. They 
come out of the same families, and the only dif- 
ference between the minutemen and Paul Revere 
and the minutemen of our day, is that Paul could 
go only as fast as his nag could trot, while our 
boys fly on the wings of the lightning. Let us 
bow in all honor to these boys, and remember that 
it is to them that the world looks to preserve lib- 
erty and civilization. 

The story of the deeds of heroism performed 
by men of the Navy in this war will one day be 
gathered in a great volume. It will glow with a 
light that never was on sea or land, for men who 
live valiantly and die nobly have a strength and 
a courage from the Eternal Father. They are 
consecrated to holy aims and are beloved of the 
God of battles. Two of these young heroes have 
recently received high honor. One was a gradu- 
ate of Annapolis, the other an enlisted man — a 

[133] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

graduate of the fleet. There is no rank in sacri- 
fice. Almost every day in this period of rapid 
construction of destroyers the Secretary of the 
Navy, among his other official duties, is called 
upon to name one of these best fighters of the 
stilettos of the seas. It is a matter of precedent 
and justice that no name shall be given to these 
craft that has not given distinction to the Navy. 
When the first destroyers were built, they were 
given the names of John Paul Jones and Perry 
and Farragut and Wilkes — all illustrious names 
that were not born to die. The custom is con- 
tinued to this day of giving the glamour of valor 
in the names of destroyers. 

Two of the latest were named Kalk and In- 
gram, and the spirits of these youthful heroes will 
confer a distinction and an inspiration as these 
swift fighters go into commission. 

The torpedoing of the Jacob Jones gave us 
more than one naval hero, some of them spared 
for future achievement. When the full account 
of how the plucky destroyers gave battle to the 
submarines is told, none of these annals will be 
richer in incidents of individual heroism than the 
deeds of the officers and men on that ship when 
two officers and sixty-four men lost their lives. 
"He was game to the last," was the report made 
by the men of the spirit of Lieutenant S. F. Kalk, 
one of the Class of 191 6. During the early part 
of the evening, though in a weakened condition, 
this gallant young officer through the chilly wa- 

[134] 



NO RANK IN SACRIFICE 

ters swam from one raft to another in his efforts 
to distribute the weight and make safe the men 
who were awaiting rescue. Young, with so much 
to Hve for, in the hour of dire peril he thought not 
of himself but of others. And because of his high 
and unselfish courage even unto death, we have 
given Kalk the distinction that goes alone to those 
who put devotion to duty above love of life. The 
Destroyer Kalk, like the youthful hero for whom 
it is named, will be "game to the last." 

The deed of Osmond K. Ingram ranks with 
those that give splendor to our humanity. He 
was a gunner's mate on the intrepid Cassin. 
When the Captain, searching for submarines, 
espied one, he started full speed ahead towards 
the enemy. Suddenly, he sighted a torpedo about 
400 yards away, running at high speed and head- 
ed to strike his vessel amidships. Realizing the 
situation, the cool Captain rang for emergency 
speed on both engines. In that moment an en- 
listed man of the Navy rose to the heroic demand 
of the peril. Seeing the torpedo coming toward 
the stern of the ship where his gun was located, 
Ingram, with rare presence of mind, realized the 
additional danger if the missile struck where cer- 
tain high explosives were stored. He speedily 
ran aft and threw the depth-charges into the sea, 
before the torpedo struck. The ship was hit, 
but the Cassin and his shipmates were saved. In- 
gram lost his own life. He was the only man 
who did not answer to the next roll-call on the 

[135] 



THE NAVY AND TJIE NATION 

ship. But he answered to the roll-call of the 
immortals, and soon a destroyer bearing his name 
will sail the seas. 

One of the comforts we snatch from the hor- 
rors of war is that it has discovered to us the he- 
roic qualities of youths like Kalk and Ingram; 
for they are of such mettle as their thousands of 
comrades, some of whom have performed equally 
heroic deeds and most of whom only await the 
opportunity to likewise win glory for the Navy, 
their country, and themselves. 

We have had a new vision of Youth in these 
days when the world has turned to them as the 
saviors of liberty. We have looked upon Nathan 
Hale as standing apart from New England 
youths, a beautiful figure separate from his kind. 
He could not be revered too highly. The lesson 
of his regret that he had "only one life to give to 
his country" has been a beacon to American boys 
in all our history. But we have come in this town 
to see that the spirit of Nathan Hale of the Revo- 
lution is the spirit of Young America of 191 7. 
From Yale, in the flush and glow and ardor of the 
passion that moved Nathan Hale, went young 
Albert Dallon Sturtevant. With eager patriot- 
ism and enterprise, he sought the most daring 
and hazardous service, enrolling in the Naval 
Flying Corps even before war was declared, 
March 26, 1917. A month later he was ordered 
to active duty and in the autumn was sent to Eng- 
land, for service on the British coast. In Febru- 

[136] 



NO RANK IN SACRIFICE 

ary came the news that he was ''missing in ac- 
tion," his machine having been shot down in 
flames. Later came particulars in a dispatch from 
Admiral Sims. Sturtevant had gone out on re- 
connoissance of the enemy coasts. While flying in 
his seaplane in this dangerous area, he had been 
attacked by an overwhelming force. Surrounded 
by ten enemy planes, pouring their shot into him, 
his machine was riddled and set on fire. Fighting 
terrific odds, he fell to death in a blaze of glory. 
It is deeds like his which iimminate the records of 
our Flying Corps, and make it a body of heroes. 
In like consecration to the ideals which we love 
more than we love life, millions of young men 
are girding on the sw^ord, counting not the cost, 
and a new glory rests as a crown upon the heads 
of the American boys of our ow^n times. 

*'So near is grandeur unto dust, 
So near is God to Man ; 
When Duty whispers low : 'Thou must/ 
The Youth replies : T can.' " 



[137] 



XIV 

"freedom's battle, once begun, though baf- 
fled OFT IS ever won'' 

This is a dark hour. Some fear the worst, but we 
know that the forces of Right will win no matter what 
the cost or how long the bloody trail. This is not a time 
for buoyant optimism, for we must not shut our eyes 
to the gravity of the situation at the war front. This 
is not a day for pessimism, for doubt in a civiHan is as 
great a crime as cowardice in a soldier. It is rather a 
day for resolution and devotion to the spirit of Liberty 
which nerved the founders of the Repubhc to suffer all 
things and endure all things to win Freedom. 

Tremont Temple, Boston, Mass., April ip, ipi8. 

Standing in this home of history on the anni- 
versary of Concord and Lexington, when the em- 
battled farmers fired ''the shot that was heard 
around the world," we have borne to us from 
across the seas the roar of guns in which Amer- 
icans are fighting another battle for liberty even 
more momentous than the struggle of the colonies 
for independence. It is in principle a struggle of 
men for the right to govern themselves. More 
than that, it is in fact resistance to the most ruth- 
less tyranny that ever sought to impose its will 
upon mankind. No sovereign since the Caesars 
has sought to conquer the world until the Kaiser 

[138] 



FREEDOM'S BATTLE 

launched forth his legions with the cry of 
"Deutschland tJber Alles!" The hordes of Al- 
aric never carried greater terror nor indulged in 
more unspeakable brutality than these modern 
Huns with their hypocritical mouthing of ''Kul- 
tur.'' 

For half a century the military despots of Ger- 
many have been developing their plot. They have 
sent their spies into every land and planted their 
outposts in the uttermost parts of the earth. By 
a generation of propaganda they have poisoned 
the minds of their countrymen and instilled them 
with the idea that the Germans were destined to 
inherit the earth, and that no other peoples had 
any rights a German must needs respect or re- 
gard. They have implanted in their minds the 
doctrine that might is right ; that brutality is man- 
liness and consideration for others a disgraceful 
weakness. The simple, kindly German people, 
with their love of music and art, their genius for 
research, their devotion to science, were made the 
tools of ambitious autocracy. Even their great 
universities were utilized to spread these false 
doctrines and their Treitschkes preached the 
glory of war and the profits of conquest. Educa- 
tion became the handmaiden of militarism, and 
behind the veneer of Kultur was built up the sor- 
did structure of materialism and supreme selfish- 
ness. 

At the same time Germany was sending her 
scientists to America, she also sent her skulking 

[139] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

spies. Behind protestations of friendliness, we 
now know that Germany was plotting the exploi- 
tation of other nations. Her educators were 
teaching the doctrines that justified atrocities. 
Her scientists were concocting poison gas. Her 
statesmen were studying the weakness of her 
neighbors, conspiring to seize their territory. Her 
diplomats were playing on national prejudices, 
stirring up trouble between other nations. 

I thank God that here in America, in institu- 
tions of higher learning, our teachers as a rule 
have been true to the faith ; that with few excep- 
tions they have taught the sound doctrines which 
are the very basis of Civilization; that they still 
remain centers of light and learning and in this 
dark hour, above the clouds of war, hold high the 
torch of Liberty. 

The flames that burned Louvain blazed up from 
the fires of hate that had been kindled in the Ger- 
man heart. But that fire will never be allowed 
to consume the earth. The German people them- 
selves will not forever be misled; they will not 
forever allow themselves to be used as ^'cannon 
fodder" to serve the selfish ambitions of their 
rulers. They must, in time, revolt against their 
masters. Must we not believe they will some day 
turn to the light of Liberty? 

The forces of the Allies have suffered not a 
few reverses. At times they have had to face 
great odds. Time and again the flood has threat- 
ened to overwhelm them. But for three and a 

[140] 



FREEDOM'S BATTLE 

half years they have held the lines on the West- 
ern Front. In this last desperate onslaught, they 
have been compelled to give ground. But these 
temporary successes, no matter how great they 
may be, do not mean that the enemy will win in 
the end. It is his last desperate stroke. He must 
strike now, before America can throw her full 
strength into the fray, or he cannot win at all. 
All Germany knows that it is the supreme effort. 
But whether it succeeds or fails, it does not mean 
a final triumph for Germany. This is a dark 
hour. Some fear the worst, but we know that the 
forces of Right will win, no matter what the cost 
or how long the bloody trail. This is not a time 
for buoyant optimism, for we must not shut our 
eyes to the gravity of the situation at the war 
front. This is not a day for pessimism, for doubt 
in a civilian is as great a crime as cowardice in a 
soldier. It is rather a day of resolution and de- 
votion to the spirit of Liberty which nerved the 
founders of the Republic to suffer all things and 
endure all things to win Freedom. 

America and the nations allied with her will 
never lay down their arms until this menace to 
the world is removed. No matter how long it 
may take; no matter how great the sacrifice in 
blood and treasure, we will never sheathe the 
sword until Autocracy is put out of business. 
Frightfulness cannot affright us; defeat here or 
there can but strengthen our determination. On 

[141] 



THE NAVY AND TJIE NATION 

this historic anniversary we dedicate ourselves 
anew to the sacred cause. And we will fight on 
until democracy shall triumph and the light of 
Liberty shine throughout the earth. 

A RACE BETWEEN WILSON AND HINDENBURG 
Faneuil Hall, Boston, Mass., October 30, ipi8. 

In April, at a patriotic rally, I spoke in Bos- 
ton on the war, its aims, and America's duty. It 
was only a few days after the never-to-be-forgot- 
ten March drive. Patriots everywhere had held 
their breath as German legions threatened Paris 
and the Channel. They were the darkest days of 
the war. For lack of ships, American soldiers 
had not arrived in France in force. We picked 
up the papers to read the war news with appre- 
hension and dread. Some feared the worst. 

We gather to-night in a very different at- 
mosphere from that which almost seemed to suf- 
focate us after the March drive. Two millions 
of American soldiers are in France and from the 
day in July when they changed the tide of war in 
the fiery furnace at Chateau Thierry, they have 
stood, by the side of our Allies, as a stone wall 
against the Prussian veterans. "It is a race," 
said Lloyd George in March when the issues 
seemed to hang in the balance, ''between Wilson 
and Hindenburg," meaning that if Wilson fur- 
nished the men more rapidly than Hindenburg, 

[142] 



FREEDOM'S BATTLE 

victory would rest with the Allies. Wilson fur- 
nished the men, to the consternation and defeat 
of the Germans, and won the race. 

On July 5th, Mr. Lloyd George, Prime Minis- 
ter of Great Britain, visited the American Army 
in France, saluted the American Flag and made 
a speech to the soldiers, in which he spoke enthu- 
siastically of the courage they had shown and 
how their splendid fighting had destroyed the be- 
lief of German war lords that America would not 
be present in force in France as a great factor in 
the Army of Liberty. He declared that the pres- 
ence of the Americans, coming from the hard won 
advance at Chateau Thierry, had convinced even 
the Kaiser of America's power, and Lloyd 
George added, "We are grateful to you for com- 
ing to help the western democracies of Europe." 
Concluding his address to the American soldiers, 
the English Premier said: 

"President Wilson's great deliverance of yesterday 
made clear what we are fighting for. If the Kaiser 
and his advisers are prepared to-morrow to accept the 
conditions stated by your President, he can have peace, 
not only with America, but also with Great Britain and 
France. But there are no indications of any intention 
on his part to do so. We do not covet a single yard 
of German soil, and we do not desire to dispossess her 
of her rightful inheritance." 

The German war lords never understood 
American spirit and American power. They told 
their people that Americans were money-grab- 

[143] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

bers and that no large number would ever cross 
the seas to fight. 'If they should desire to come 
to Europe, there are no ships to bring them," was 
the prophecy. ''They have no trained soldiers, 
and if men could be transported, they would be 
the easy victims of our invincible armies," they 
added. With such assurances they lulled their 
people into a false sense of security. But under 
united command, the Allied forces have from July 
to this hour pressed the battle with increasing 
strength and steady advance. To-night we gather 
in a world in which the clouds have lifted, we 
feel the refreshing air of the coming victory, and 
we gird our loins for the last struggle, and look 
beyond the trenches and the sacrifices to the days 
of permanent and honorable peace — a world re- 
deemed from the danger of war and greed and 
conquest. 

The paramount duty of the Navy in this war 
has been to keep safe the road to France, to make 
a highway of the sea over which the land fighters 
could pass in security to the heroic task they are 
performing gloriously. How well the Navy has 
met its responsibility in this direction, the figures 
of insignificant losses on transports attest with 
eloquence of achievement. But, while this new 
and unexpected convoy duty has been carried out 
successfully, the Navy has also borne its share in 
submarine hunting, has placed literally hundreds 
of patrol and fighting ships in commission, has 
kept its mighty dreadnaughts fit and ready for 

[144] 



FREEDOM'S BATTLE 

any eventuality in our own or European waters, 
and, on and under the sea and on land and in the 
air, has justified the faith and pride of the Amer- 
ican people. From a little over 50,000 men, it has 
grown to over 500,000, and from April 6th, 19 17, 
has responded promptly to every call. 

It must be a source of pride to men of Massa- 
chusetts, who from the Revolution have been con- 
spicuous in contributions to naval efficiency, that 
in this war your State has furnished so many of 
the officers and men who have made the record 
of the Navy shine. It was a great citizen of Mas- 
sachusetts, who, as Secretary of the Navy in 
Polk's Administration, founded the Navy Acad- 
emy to train officers to command the ships. 
George Bancroft is the father of naval education 
as Horace Mann is the father of universal educa- 
tion. I love to recall that it was in the Democratic 
administration of a native of North Carolina that 
a great scholar and statesman of Massachusetts 
had the vision to establish an institution at An- 
napolis to train American youths for naval ca- 
reers. Upon a recent visit to that institution. Sir 
Eric Geddes, First Lord of the Admiralty of 
Great Britain, declared that the Naval Academy 
was the admiration and envy of all nations. From 
that source the Navy has obtained the officers who 
have directed naval operations. To their aid have 
come hundreds of capable officers promoted from 
the ranks and from civilian life — thousands of 
the flower of our young American manhood. 

[145] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

I do not know whether the German fleet will 
come out and try conclusions with the Allied 
fleet before war ends. One thing I do know is 
that every man in the Navy hopes for that day 
with confidence that knows no doubt as to the re- 
sult of such a conflict of mighty fighting craft. 
If it comes it will be another battle of Armaged- 
don and we will be fighting truly for the Lord. 



[146] 



XV 



LEADERSHIP, INSPIRATION AND PUBLIC SERVICE 
OF THE PRESS 

To print the truth, to give constructive criticism, to 
grasp and properly interpret intellectually the tremen- 
dous import of movements in thought as well as in 
action is a supreme duty of the press. 

The press of America has won national gratitude by 
its splendid loyalty and leadership during the past year. 
. . . Whatever the call, it has responded with a cheer- 
ful "Aye, aye, sir !" and has led in the enthusiastic sup- 
port of every measure for national unity and national 
victory. 

American Newspaper Publishers* Association, New 
York, April 25, ipi8. 

I FEEL thoroughly at home in a gathering of 
newspaper men, for I am an editor myself by pro- 
fession and lifelong service — a newspaper man 
with an assignment to cover the Navy, a job that 
I am holding down with some difficulty. But it 
is a position that no man can hold without catch- 
ing something of the spirit of the Service, whose 
officers and men, fearlessly facing any danger, 
are ready to give their lives for their country. 
This spirit prevails throughout the entire Navy 
from Admirals to so-called ''common seamen." 
But really there are no "common" sailors — ^they 

[147] 



THE NAVY AND T^E NATION 

are all uncommon by reason of their courage and 
determination. 

While millions of our brave boys on sea and 
land are fighting for the Cause, it is for us to 
keep the home fires burning, to give them every 
support, to see that this whole country is mobil- 
ized and the home defenses of industry, of senti- 
ment, of public opinion are made solid and im- 
pregnable. And in this the newspapers of Amer- 
ica have a lofty mission and an important part. 

The Press is sometimes the echo of passing 
public opinion, sometimes the creator of sound 
public sentiment, and sometimes the voice of the 
well-considered and resolute will of the people. 
There are not wanting editors, as well as poli- 
ticians, who keep an ear to the ground to detect 
public sentiment, and, hastening to become the 
early spokesmen, parade as having created that 
of which they are only the echoes. The difficulty 
with such weather-vanes of our profession is that 
in their zeal to prove themselves prophets and 
leaders they mistake hysteria and noise for con- 
viction and thought. 

These blind leaders of the blind would prove 
fatal guides if they did not so often make the 
blunder of supposing the rushing of the shallows 
to be the strong current of the deeps. Enough 
errors in determining the ebb and flow of the tide 
saves the world from the echo-editors. The peo- 
ple do not long pin their faith to editors who feed 
them on chaff when they ask for bread. But it 

[148] 



PUBLIC SERVICE OF THE PRESS 

must be admitted that papers do sometimes thrive 
for a time on hysteria and bunk, though their m- 
fluence is nil in the long run. 

Newspapers as such never make public opmion. 
It is only editors with strong individuality who 
are creators. Therefore the old-time journal with 
a real man at the helm, carried its readers into 
safe ports, while the journal of scoops and sen- 
sations, lacking conscience and responsibility, may 
be truly compared to a ship at sea without rudder 
or sail or steam or captain. _ 

If the journals of to-day have less mfluence 
than when a known man of force dictated their 
policy, it is because there is Jess sense of respon- 
sibility in the larger editorial staff. I say it 
because, while there are times when newspaper 
support is a greater liability than an asset, the 
truth is that to-day as never before public opmion 
is unconsciously influenced by the prmted word. 
The best proof of this statement is the interpreta- 
tion made of world conditions by the bulk of the 
Press of America prior to our entrance mto this 



war. 



The Press was the self-appointed historian of 
the day, writing history in the making, and the 
^^' of German f rightfulness and aggression 
was so revolting that public sentiment was ready 
to back up the President and the Congress when 
the Imperial German Government presumed to 
assume dominion of the sea. If America had ac- 
cepted the impertinence of such dictation it would 

[149] 



THE NAVY AND T.HE NATION 

no longer have been a nation but a German col- 
ony. 

We entered the war to preserve national sover- 
eignty, to make the world a safe place for peace- 
loving people to live in, and to render it forever 
impossible that might should enslave the world. 
Having entered the war for these high motives, 
and without any selfish interest, America will 
wage it until the menace of autocracy no longer 
endangers the happiness and prosperity of man- 
kind. 

With the printing of the news from the seat of 
war comes the duty of editors to give the true 
perspective. The biggest scoop that any newspa- 
per can score to-day is the satisfaction of know- 
ing that its readers are accurately and intelli- 
gently informed as to the meaning and purpose 
of every blow struck and every move made in the 
great struggle to make mankind truly free. To 
print the truth, to give constructive criticism, to 
grasp and properly interpret intellectually the tre- 
mendous import of movements in thought as well 
as in action is a supreme duty of the press. 

In times of peace, freedom of the press found 
expression in ''scoops" and ''stories" that attract- 
ed readers. To-day a scoop that gives away in- 
formation about war plans is a treasonable act, 
or first cousin to it. 

The Press of America has won national grati- 
tude by its splendid loyalty and leadership during 
the past year. News has been secondary to serv- 

[150] 



PUBLIC SERVICE OF THE PRESS 

ice. During the days after relations were sev- 
ered with Germany, it was to the papers that the 
people looked for a clear presentation of the duty 
of this country. It rang clear and true, and when 
the declaration of war was made in solemn asser- 
tion of national duty, the Press was almost a unit 
in support of the noble utterances of the Presi- 
dent. And from that hour, whether it was in 
support of the selective draft, the recruiting cam- 
paign, propaganda for the Liberty Loan, food 
and fuel conservation, the drives for the Red 
Cross and other welfare organizations, or leading 
in community honors paid to youths going to war 
—whatever the call, the Press has responded with 
a cheerful "Aye, aye, sir," and has led in the en- 
thusiastic support of every measure for national 
unity and national victory. 

In every country at war except America there 
is strict censorship of the Press. Here we have 
none except such as is self-imposed. Some of our 
military preparations and operations cannot be re- 
vealed without giving valuable information to the 
enemy. They would make great reading, of 
course; but the publication of them might do as 
much damage as if the secrets had been stolen by 
German spies. 

Free speech and a free press are two of our 
most precious possessions. It must be remem- 
bered, however, that liberty in this respect is at 
all times restricted by the manifest rights of 
others; liberty of speech and liberty of the press 

[151] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

in attack upon the Government in times of war 
can never be permitted to weaken the authority 
of the nation's responsible head dealing with a 
foreign power. Frank and honest criticism keeps 
clear the running stream. But a line must be 
drawn somewhere. Within America, in domes- 
tic concerns, let the press be encouraged to criti- 
cise and condemn where it detects what it thinks 
is error. The only hope for the best government 
is criticism that knows neither friend nor foe, of 
national measures and national servants. But 
when there is a state of war between this country 
and some other country, has a citizen or an editor 
the right to say in print what can be used against 
his own Government, or what will weaken the 
prosecution of the war by captious or carping 
criticism, or even by the criticism that discloses 
what it has learned the Government is doing? 

Edmund Burke pronounced the Press "the 
Fourth Estate,'' a coordinate branch of govern- 
ment in a democracy, and to-day, as never before, 
it has responsibility as a quasi-governmental 
agency. The late John Hay, a distinguished j 
journalist who ranks among the ablest of Secre- ; 
taries of State, understood this dual relationship. | 
At an acute period in international affairs, Secre- ' 
tary Hay was asked some searching questions by 
the journalists who daily visited the State Depart- 
ment. He answered them and proceeded to give 
an illuminating story of the stage reached in the 
negotiations and to discuss freely the complica- 

[152] 



PUBLIC SERVICE OF THE PRESS 

tions. When he had finished, he waved *'good 
day" and said, *'Not a word of all this is to be 
printed.'' One of the journalists asked, ''What 
would happen, Mr. Secretary, if I should print 
to-morrow the situation as you have outlined it ?'' 
With a hardening of the lines of his face, Secre- 
tary Hay answered : "I should denounce you as a 
liar and your story as a fabrication," and he con- 
tinued : ''I am a newspaper man myself. To-day, 
as a journalist I have violated the confidence of 
the Secretary of State in telling my brother jour- 
nalists the substance of information received by 
him officially and in confidence. If you should 
abuse the confidence of Editor Hay and publish 
what Secretary Hay had no official right to tell 
you and which he could not tell you, then Secre- 
tary Hay would be justified in denouncing you as 
a liar and your story as a fabrication." 

Let us give our readers the true word. Give 
credit to the men of this nation who have aided 
it to do more to prepare for war in a year than 
has ever been done by any other nation in history. 
Preserve the m.orale at home and you will hold up 
the hands of the men at the front who are giving 
their all to win this war. Two million men have 
gone to the front, and millions more will be sent 
as fast as ships can be had to carry them. And 
we are building ships. The day will come when 
America will not have to depend upon foreign 
bottoms to carry her goods to other countries. 
We can have every confidence in the future and 

[153] 



THE NAVY AND TJtlB NATION 

the part America will play in the world. I would 
do nothing to dampen optimism but I tell you this 
is no time to be buoyant. This is the hour for 
determination and set teeth. We are in this fight 
to the finish. We must have confidence, but not 
over-confidence. The Press can aid mightily in 
keeping the home front as solid as the battle 
front. Not excusing or concealing faults or fail- 
ures, and certainly not magnifying them so as to 
create false impressions and weaken our fighting 
arms, we can assure our armies and our allies 
that this country will not fail them, that an undi- 
vided America is backing them to the limit — an 
America of unlimited resources and measureless 
power and ability and courage. 



[154J 



XVI 



AMERICANS NEW HORIZON 



One of the beneficial results of this war will be a new 
horizon and a new map. It is for you to lead the way so 
that the great merchant marine we are building up in 
war will be continued in peace, and made big enough to 
carry American cotton and everything else we make to 
every island in the sea. 

American Cotton Manufacturers' Association, '^ew 
York, May 2, ipi8. 

I SPENT this morning in the new aircraft fac- 
tory which the Navy has built and is enlarging at 
the Philadelphia Navy Yard, and I hardly appre- 
ciated until I made this visit of inspection that we 
owed so much in aircraft to the cotton mill indus- 
try. The officer in charge, pointing out to me the 
things that were making for the more rapid con- 
struction and safeguarding of material, pointed to 
a system of humidification, and I asked, "Where 
did you get that?" And he said, *'I got that by 
study of the cotton mill industry.'' So, that when 
we control the temperature and moisture in the 
airplane factories, we owe a debt of gratitude 
to the studies and invention of men of your pro- 
fession. And as I went into another large build- 
ing of this plant and saw the men there making 

[155] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

the wings of these new engines of war, one man 
said, ''You know we had some trouble a short 
while ago in securing promptly enough linen for 
the large program we have in hand for aircraft, 
and we looked about to see what we could do to 
dispense with linen, and we found that cotton was 
better than linen, having its strength without its 
brittleness." So that, stumbling as it may ap- 
pear, this morning I discovered two debts which 
the Navy and Army owe to you gentlemen who 
had pioneered us in this new industry. I thought 
when I came here to-night that I would talk about 
cotton, because I come from a section where cot- 
ton has long reigned as king, and had the ex- 
perience as a boy of picking cotton, and picked it 
in the fields with the old type of splendid colored 
men who are so important to this industry. I 
have tried to sing with them, but have never 
caught the melody as they would sing the old 
tune : 

"Way down in the bottom. 
Where the cotton is all rotten, 
And you can't get a hundred a day." 

You never can tell what cotton will do ; but you 
always know this: That the world cannot live 
without it. We had thought that cotton was a 
peace product, and had thought of it chiefly as a 
product for clothing the world, taking the place 
of more costly fabrics. But we have learned now 
that we cannot wage war without it. You cannot 

[156] 



AMERICA'S NEW HORIZON 

make guncotton or high explosives, you cannot 
clothe the men without it, and if I were to stop and 
enumerate the uses of cotton in the war, we would 
be here until to-morrow morning. You repre- 
sent an industry which is essential to the war ; and 
if the seas had not been kept open in the past 
three years, our Allies would not have been able 
to manufacture the munitions with which they 
have fed the guns and held the line. 

I am inclined to think that you would rather 
hear me speak on a topic not more interesting, not 
more important, but at the present time more vital 
than any product — upon the present day condi- 
tions in our country and the world, and the duty 
we owe to preserve all we have worked and strug- 
gled for. The liberties won at King's Mountain, 
Guilford Court House, Lexington and at York- 
town hang in the balance. We have seen 
anxious hours in recent weeks but no ominous 
hours. We know that we shall pay heavy toll. 
We know that we shall fear and mourn the loss 
of many men, but we know full well that, though 
the line may move backwards for a time and 
sway, the line that holds for liberty will never 
break. 

One of the beneficial results of this war will 
be a new horizon and a new map. For too many 
years we have been looking at our own little af- 
fairs and seeing a small portion of the world. 
We have been satisfied to live within ourselves, 
and to think that America was sufficient unto it- 

[157] 



THE NAVY AND T^E NATION 

self. We have now seen a new map, we have had 
a new vision, and in the cotton industry more than 
any other we feel the need and compulsion to send 
our cotton and cotton goods to clothe the people 
in every part of the world. And it is for you to 
lead the way so that the great merchant marine 
we are building up in war will be continued in 
peace and made big enough to carry American 
cotton and everything else we make to every is- 
land in the sea. 

There is another compensation which we may 
find in this tragedy: A compensation of a new 
American unity. Before this great war men of 
different views did not see eye to eye and touch 
elbow to elbow. A few years ago we had bitter 
partisan discussions, and the fact is, there were 
times when we Democrats felt that some of you 
Republicans w^ere pretty bad fellows. Honestly, 
we did. It was not any campaign cry; we be- 
lieved it, and sometimes we proved it. And you 
Republicans believed some of us Democrats were 
pretty bad fellows, and the worst of it is, some- 
times you proved it ; but we have lived to see the 
day when all of us have put aside the rancor of 
partisanship, and politics has blossomed into pa- 
triotism. 

When Mr. Jefferson was inaugurated he came 
into the presidency after the first bitter political 
campaign this country had known, and if any of 
us think in our day partisans can say bitter things 
about opponents, read what they said in Jeffer- 

[158] 



AMERICA'S NEW HORIZON 

son's day. And yet when that great man came 
to take the oath of office he used these words: 
*'A11 differences of opinion are not differences of 
principle. We are all," he said, "Federalists, we 
are all Republicans." So to-day, in the shadow 
of this great war we say we are all Democrats, we 
are all Republicans, we are all Americans. 

There are other compensations which we may 
find. To-night when the band struck up "Dixie" 
all of us from the Cotton States felt a new thrill. 
We always feel it, and the older men like Mr. Cal- 
laway gave the Rebel yell. 

I heard a very distinguished American, who 
has proved his Americanism in these days — I re- 
fer to ex-President William H. Taft — say that 
"Dixie" was so fine a tune that it did not belong 
to any section of the Republic, but was a national 
air. 

We have come to see the day, and I believe it 
has come forever, when sectionalism is dead and 
buried in America. During the past year more 
than half a million of young men of other 
states represented here have been in Southern 
camps to get ready for the great adventure be- 
fore them, and they are going over to fight, sing- 
ing "The Yanks are Coming" to the tune of 
"Dixie." The boys from North Carolina and 
Mississippi and every Southern state are singing 
that tune to-day, because when you sing "The 
Yanks are Coming" it is only another term for 
"The Americans are Coming." 

[159] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

We are getting a new conception of American- 
ism — that we are all of the same faith, differing 
only in opportunities and advantages; and with 
that spirit enlisted and the Republic mobilized, 
there is no more doubt that we will win than that 
God rules in the heavens. 

I have never yet appealed to a man to buy a 
Liberty bond. I have sometimes offered him the 
privilege of doing it and when we look into our 
own hearts, those of us who are older, who are not 
daily exposed to the terrors of the submarine, or 
of winning mud and glory in the trenches, and fail 
to poiir out everything we have to back these boys, 
our names are not worthy to go on the roster be- 
side them. 

When the first Liberty bonds were offered an 
appeal was made to ministers to bring the matter 
to the attention of their congregations, because 
the line of demarcation between what is secular 
and religious is ended. This is a holy war and 
religion and patriotism are married. 

There was an old colored minister in North 
Carolina, a pious, patriotic old man, who, when 
he received this request, went into his pulpit the 
next Sunday morning and preached the best ser- 
mon on record. Very brief, too, as sermons 
should be. He said : "My brethren, I have been 
requested, and I do so cheerfully and gladly, to 
preach on Liberty bonds. There are just three 
kinds of bonds. The first are the bonds of 
slavery, from which as a race we have been eman- 

[l6o] 



AMERICA'S NEW HORIZON 

cipated; second, the bonds of matrimony, which 
we must endure ; and, third, Liberty bonds, which 
we must buy." 

Now, if there were any ladies here I would not 
dare tell that story without change, because they 
would misunderstand the ''secondly" of the old 
man's sermon. If I had been preaching that ser- 
mon I would have changed ''secondly" and I 
would have said, "The bonds of matrimony, the 
bulwark of happiness and civilization and re- 
ligion." 

We need to rise to the altitude of serving our 
country in some way that costs us something. 
The man who writes his check for a large sub- 
scription for Liberty bonds with a bank over- 
flowing with money, unless he makes it big enough 
to hurt, has not measured up to the opportunity 
of this hour. 

Let me tell you the story of an old farmer. 
When the bonds were first offered, an old farmer, 
who had lived on a poor farm for forty years, had 
managed to save up, by close economy, a thousand 
dollars. It was all he had. When the war came 
he gave his five sons to the cause and then he took 
this thousand dollars to the village and bought a 
Liberty bond. Six months passed by and he 
wrote a letter to the Secretary of the Treasury 
something like this: "My dear Mr. McAdoo: 
When you asked for subscriptions for Liberty 
bonds last May in order to lick the Huns — (he 
had no doubt of what was going to happen) — I 

[i6i] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

gave my bond for a thousand dollars. I am writ- 
ing you now, sir, to ask you to whom I shall pay 
the interest." 

Now the Government of your country, repre- 
senting all of us alike, is not asking any man to 
buy a bond and pay the interest. But you had 
better buy the bond and pay the interest, rather 
than pay Germany the indemnity which would 
leave us nothing. 

I must not speak longer — 

(A voice: 'Tell us more about the Navy.'') 

The gentleman says he wants to know more 
about the Navy. I was talking to-night to one 
of the most successful manufacturers of cotton 
in America, as I had talked before with such men 
as Julius Rosenwald and Henry Ford, and he and 
they said that there was not in America a busi- 
ness institution run so well as the Navy. And 
you cotton mill men know it. Sometimes we have 
not always agreed on the price; sometimes you 
have persuaded yourselves that the price to be 
charged for cotton duck or gauze or some other 
product was more than we thought it ought to 
be; but you have always found that the respon- 
sible men in the department of supplies, repre- 
sented here to-night by Commander John M. Han- 
cock, had as much ability as any man in the cot- 
ton mill associations. But you have found when 
you talked with him and his associates that the 
Navy Department, and other departments of the 
Government, offered and wished to pay always a 

[162] 



AMERICA'S NEW HORIZON 

price that would justify adequate wages for men 
who worked in this industry, and adequate profits ; 
always making it plain that these profits should 
not be in excess of average profits in peace time. 
It is well that we all discuss these matters to- 
gether because you have the same interest in the 
dollars the Government expends as those who ex- 
pend them. As trustees of your money, if we pay 
a dollar more for cotton goods or steel than is 
right you would say that we were unfaithful serv- 
ants. 

I said just now that this was a holy war, a war 
in which America has nothing to gain selfishly, a 
war which we have gone into to protect the liber- 
ties won for us by our forefathers, and that we 
would fight it through on this line if it would take 
all summer and all winter, and this year and next 
year and the next year and twenty years until we 
win victory. 

When to-night forty thousand young men on 
small craft of your Navy, which deserves the con- 
fidence you repose in it, are risking their lives, to- 
gether with hundreds of thousands of young sol- 
diers in the most terrible battle of the world 
(mayhap the decisive battle of civilization), it 
is as little as we can do to give all we have of self 
and efifort to serve our country and to back up the 
boys over there. 



[163] 



XVII 

THE STAR OF HOPE AND FAITH UNDIMMED 

To the glory of the churches, they have themselves had 
a new baptism, ascended the mountain top and obtained 
a new vision, and are calling to a world resolved to 
preserve freedom by a new consecration. This war will 
not be won by might alone. It will be won by faith, 
by prayer, by the courage which God imparts to all who in 
their hour of need look to Him for guidance and for 
strength. 

General Conference of Methodist Episcopal Church, 
South; Atlanta, Georgia, May ii, ipi8. 

Let us rejoice that the young men of valor 
making ready for war have been trained alike in 
Camp Grant and Camp Lee, Camp Sheridan and 
Camp Stonewall Jackson, Camp Sherman and 
Camp Gordon, thus demonstrating in actual war- 
fare the cementing of the patriotism of the whole 
RepubHc in the struggle to preserve for mankind 
the principles incarnated in the national air and 
in the waving Stars and Stripes. It was in At- 
lanta that the patriotic McKinley, a Methodist, 
warmed all patriotic hearts by proposing that on 
May 30th, of every year, the graves of the men 
who fought under Lee and under Grant should 
be decorated alike in recognition of their common 

[164] 



HOPE AND FAITH UNDIMMED 

heroism and their equal devotion to the Right as 
God gave them to see the Right. Let us be 
cheered and strengthened that this utterance of 
the martyred McKinley was of a part with the 
counsel of that other Methodist President, Gen- 
eral Grant, when he said, ''Let us have peace." 

Recently, in selecting names for the new de- 
stroyers, I came to Georgia for an illustrious 
name for this best weapon against the submarine 
menace, and it will be christened Tattnall after 
the brave Georgia naval officer who made famous 
by his assistance to our British cousins his dec- 
laration that ''Blood is thicker than water." The 
Tattnall will fight alongside the Farragiit, another 
evidence that the war of brothers has left behind 
it nothing but comrnon consecration to a reunited 
country, mutual appreciation of courage, which 
demonstrated America's ability to fight without 
hate and without barbarism, and to forget the 
differences which no longer divide those sections 
once in conflict. 

In this critical hour, when partisanship has 
bourgeoned into patriotism, when sectionalism 
has blossomed into national unity, and love of the 
Republic has broadened so as to help to insure 
freedom and democracy for all nations, great and 
small, the supreme duty of Methodists, North and 
South, is to make any and all sacrifices that may 
be necessary to mobilize Methodists into one 
mighty church. We have lost much by the divi- 
sions and seen much wasted effort. There is no 

[165] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

excuse for a Northern Methodist Church in At- 
lanta or a Southern Methodist Church in Seattle. 
If politicians and business men have forgotten 
there was a Mason and Dixon's line, the Metho- 
dist churches cannot wisely longer march in sepa- 
rate columns under separate organizations. Effi- 
cient maneuvering against the forces of evil calls 
for a solidarity of movement for the overthrow of 
evil. This demands the uniting under one organ- 
ization of all who proudly follow where Wesley 
blazed the way. Why delay? Once let Metho- 
dists of all branches see that their high duty is 
to unite, and the obstacles will be made to melt 
away and during the world-war we shall realize 
the benediction of a Methodism that is one in 
faith, one in zeal, and one in resolve to measure 
up to the high responsibilities which large mem- 
bership imposes upon it united in one organized 
force. With the largest number of communicants 
of any Protestant church in America, — seven mil- 
lions — the opportunity of service and responsi- 
bility for rendering the highest service is a call 
to Methodists to re-adopt the shibboleth of Wes- 
ley, 'The world is my parish,'' and go forth car- 
rying the old gospel to men in arms and carrying 
cheer as well into the homes from which these 
young men have gone to win the victory for all 
we all hold dear. 

A recent occurrence across the waters gives a 
new reason, and a convincing one, for one organ- 
ization of Methodists. For more than three 

[i66] 



HOPE AND FAITH UNDIMMED 

years the allied countries, each under its own mili- 
tary commanders, have waged war against one 
centralized military power. They have fought 
well and bravely, their leaders have not been 
wanting in ability and courage, but there lacked 
the unified direction which is essential for suc- 
cessful warfare. America, from its earliest en- 
trance into war, favored one supreme command 
of all the allied forces, but there were difficulties 
and some able men could not see the way to a 
single supreme organization until the great Ger- 
man drive in March. Then what had been seen 
as something desirable became something imper- 
ative. In the imminence of the peril of the Prus- 
sian onslaught, obstacles against one supreme 
military leader melted away, and to-day Ameri- 
can and British, French and Italian and other 
allied forces are mobilized into one invincible 
army under the direction of that illustrious 
French soldier. General Foch, regarded by all as 
the fittest to command the armies of liberty. In 
this coming together as one big army, instead, as 
during three years' fighting, in separate organiza- 
tions, does not the recent wise action in France 
afiford a convincing reason why American Meth- 
odists should do likewise, and gain strength and 
power by solidarity in the onward movement of 
their mighty Christian Army? 

The only solid foundation upon which all civil- 
ization rests to-day is Christianity, and the 
church IS the bride of Christ. Religion alone 

[167] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

abides in the hearts of men. We may not under- 
stand why God permits war, our faith may at 
times falter, but the only sure anchor of the soul 
is the knowledge that God is in His Heaven, and 
that, after the thunders of war. He will give us 
to see that in the better days before us ''all is 
well with the world." It will be well with us be- 
cause we are fighting in a righteous war. With 
no unholy or selfish aims, we are justified in the 
confident faith that God will give victory to our 
arms and put it into the hearts of men to estab- 
lish here on earth governments that promote 
peace and justice, freed from greed and self-ag- 
grandizement. 

This war is a challenge to Christianity. There 
are not wanting those whose faith in God has 
wavered because of the awful slaughter, and 
some have said this war shows that Christian 
civilization has failed. That is the superficial 
view. But that is not the true view. Christian- 
ity has not failed. It alone is the Star of Hope. 
A study of Prussianism discloses that in that 
country the State had usurped the place of God, 
and that spirituality had given place to material- 
ism. No people could wantonly wage war for 
spoils who had not repudiated the teachings of 
Jesus Christ. Prussia outwardly professed the 
religion of the Nazarene. Inwardly it has for 
years denied His teachings and the fruit of its 
materialism is seen in its brutal war upon women 
and children. Men and nations may stand in the 

[168] 



HOPE AND FAITH UNDIMMED 

market places, and give lip-service, but it is true 
of nations, as of individuals, ''by their fruits shall 
ye know them/' 

To-day the world in travail looks to the church 
as the representative of the living God to recall 
men and women to the old gospel, the only sup- 
port, the only firm foundation, the only Light. 
All other creeds have failed, all other foundations 
have crumbled, all other lights have gone out. 
To the glory of the churches, they have them- 
selves had a new baptism, ascended the mountain 
top and obtained a new vision, and are calling to 
a world resolved to preserve freedom to a new 
consecration. The war will not be won by might 
alone. It will be won by faith, by prayer, by the 
courage which God imparts to all who in their 
hour of need look to Him for guidance and for 
strength. 



[169] 



XVIII 

AS THEY GO FORTH TO BATTLE 

This day marks your reveille. You have been sum- 
moned to duty. This parchment I hand you is your call 
to battle and your warrant of service. . . . Serve well; 
think cleanly, live cleanly, shoot hard; play fair; act so 
that when the end comes you have helped yourself and 
each one of us others to say, "Thank God, I, too, am 
an American." 

Address to Graduating Class, U. S. Naval Academy, 
Annapolis, Md., June 6, igi8. 

To-DAY you become the defenders of Right, 
of Justice and of Freedom. To-day you become 
the defenders of America and her gallant associ- 
ates in the war. To-day you become official 
guardians of the nation and trustees of one of 
her greatest possessions — her Navy with its 
glorious record, written in the splendid deeds of 
these days and the thrilling traditions of her yes- 
terdays. 

From now on you will wear the uniform of 
John Paul Jones; of Barry; of Decatur; of Law- 
rence; of Hull; of Farragut; of Dewey and of 
that host who, great themselves in devotion, sac- 
rifice and courage, helped to make America great. 
Their heritage is yours. Let their spirit prompt 

[170] 



AS THEY GO FORTH TO BATTLE 

your stewardship. But the measure of your in- 
spiration is not limited to the memories of these 
men, great as they are. Yours is the good fortune 
to have added to that immortal band the names of 
those who served and fought under other flags 
but who now are our blood brothers ; whose sons 
are now our companions in arms; whose coun- 
tries are allied with us in our great quest. The 
magnificent Nelson, Blake, Drake, Frobisher, 
Hawkins, De Grasse — into your hearts their spir- 
its enter, for you are fighting for what they 
fought for — Liberty. 

Fortunate youth! Fortunate because it is 
given you to prove that the age of chivalry is not 
dead — that chivalry was never more alive than 
now. The holiest of the crusades was motived 
by no finer impulse than has brought us into this 
war. To prove that life means more than force; 
to prove that principle is still worth fighting for ; 
to prove that Freedom means more than dollars ; 
that self-respect is better than compromise; to 
be ready to sacrifice all so that the world may 
be made the better — what nobler dedication of 
himself can a man make? 

We have come into this war with no thought 
of material gain ; with no hope of measurable re- 
ward; with no desire for power; with no lust of 
battle. We have come in with pity and with hate 
in our hearts — pity for those whom a soulless in- 
ternational outlaw has ravished and destroyed, 
and hate for the despicable things he has done 

[171] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

under the specious plea of military right. War 
upon the aged and the infirm; war upon 
women and children; war upon neutrals; war 
upon the Red Cross — and then the Prussians call 
it an act of military necessity! 

No greater message was ever spoken to inspire 
great deeds than that which forms our creed — 
yours and mine. "We have no selfish ends to 
serve. We desire no conquests and no domin- 
ion. We seek no indemnities for ourselves and 
no material compensation for sacrifices we shall 
freely make. We are but one of the champions 
of the rights of mankind, and shall be satisfied 
when these rights are as secure as fact and the 
freedom of nations can make them." That is 
your formula of action as written by your Com- 
mander-in-Chief. 

You men enter upon your careers of translat- 
ing these words into deeds at a time when the ene- 
my has brought the war to our very doors. Why 
has he done so? Does he think to frighten us by 
so doing? No! A thousand times no. He has 
intensified the fire of our passion. He has 
brought home to us the need of strength and more 
strength so that he may the more quickly and 
the more thoroughly be stripped of his arrogance. 

No, it is not what he does that counts. It is 
what we do. He may bend our lines; he may 
even break them, but he cannot break our spirit. 
With stout hearts and our heads unbowed, the 
end is certain. He will shatter against our spirit 

[172] 



Ah) THJiY GO J^'UKTH TO BATTLE 

like the waves against our imperishable rocks un- 
til his strength and his fury vanish against our 
unconquerable spirit. 

This is not a war of fleets and armies alone; 
it is a war of peoples ; of nations. And when al- 
most all of the liberty-loving nations of the world 
are unified by great purpose the outcome cannot 
be doubted. 

We were not a warlike nation. But we have 
the courage, the stamina and the intelligence to 
enable us to learn the arts of war. We are learn- 
ing fast — so fast that already we have been able 
to demonstrate our worth. But we do more than 
fight with arms. We fight with even greater 
weapons, imponderable though they may be. 
And because of them Germany can never win 
the war. She can never win it even if her armies 
marched simultaneously down the streets of Paris 
and of London, for America has called into life 
those forces that not all the cannon in the world 
can kill; those elements of Justice, of Right and 
of Liberty that no conqueror can long hold pris- 
oner. Sooner or later they will rise and over- 
whelm the Prussian spirit which still worships 
the Gospel of Might. This war will go far to- 
ward forever stilling that creed, and a great part 
of that victory — be it soon or be it deferred — 
will belong to us, and to us because of the vision 
of the President. 

The Germans are not fighting against armies 
only; they are battling against principles; they 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

are not fighting against men; they are fighting 
against spirit. Soon they will be broken, and they 
will have learned that the world is ruled not by 
the Law of Force but by the Force of Law. 

"For freedom's battle, once begun, 
Bequeathed by bleeding sire to son. 
Though baffled oft is ever won." 

This day marks your reveille. You have been 
summoned to duty. This parchment I hand you 
is your call to battle and your warrant of service. 
And at this time — at all times — all that a man 
should and does desire is encompassed by that 
word. Serve well; think clearly, live cleanly, 
shoot hard; play fair; act so that when the end 
comes you have helped yourself and each one of 
us others to say, *'Thank God, I, too, am an 
American !" 

I have brought you to-day a message from a 
fighter and thinker of your own profession, for 
the best stimulus you will receive will come from 
the able men who have helped to impart new ideas 
to our Navy and who each day seek to learn and 
put into practice not only what experience has 
taught our own Navy, but to adopt the best 
thoughts of the ablest naval thinkers of the world. 
Even before this country became a participant in 
this war, your Commander-in-Chief, the Presi- 
dent of the United States, whose appreciation of 
naval power and naval needs has given the Navy 
the greatest forward impulse in its history, sent 

[174] 



AS THEY GO FORTH TO BATTLE 

Admiral Sims to Europe as an observer and stu- 
dent to keep his country posted. Since America 
has hastened to bear its part in the war, the Presi- 
dent has promoted Rear Admiral Sims to Vice- 
Admiral. He enjoys the confidence of naval 
statesmen in all the allied nations, and is recog- 
nized as one of the most brilliant officers in the 
world. A few days ago I sent him a cablegram 
suggesting that upon graduation day the new 
officers of the Navy would value a sentiment 
from him. In response to that message, Vice-Ad- 
miral Sims has sent the following, by which 
every young officer of the Navy will be helped and 
stimulated : 

London, England, 

TT T T^ June Sj iQi8. 

Hon. Josephus Daniels, *^ ^^ :? 

Secretary of the Navy, 

Washington, D. C. 

In response to your suggestion of a message to the 
Graduating Class at the Naval Academy, this week, show- 
ing what education at Annapolis has meant in this war, 
let me say that all our experience in Europe shows the 
great value of the Annapolis education in all cases where 
the officers have realized that their Academy training is 
only a foundation upon which to build real military 
knowledge and efficiency. This efficiency will depend 
upon your success in learning the practical duties of your 
profession, in learning the principles of warfare, in 
learning to control and lead men, in promoting the team 
work of your ship or organization, in perfecting every 
duty to the best of your ability and generally in doing 
your utmost to aid in every way the work of your im- 
mediate superiors. 

Do not underestimate your ability. No matter what 
your Academy standing may be, continuous work will 

[175] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

overcome any obstacles. The cumulative effect of an 
hour's study a day makes the difference between an edu- 
cated and an uneducated officer. If you will make a 
study of military character and apply it honestly to 
your own case you will recognize that the quality we 
seniors value most highly is the support of our juniors. 
This means not simply doing what you are told, but 
using your brains and doing it willingly, cheerfully, 
zealously and in entire loyalty to the team of which you 
happen to be a part. If the last man in the class con- 
sistently gives this support to his seniors and to his 
team he will be a more successful officer than any star 
member who neglects these precepts. 

Wm. S. Sims. 

Sometimes the path of duty is through the gates 
of death, but always up the shining mountain of 
Glory. The men graduating from the Naval 
Academy to-day and more than 400,000 others 
of their comrades gladly follov^ where they led. 
Neither those early called to shine with the stars 
nor those in the rigorous duty of the sea asked 
for any task except the task of peril and no place 
except the post of danger. They lessened the 
menace of the submarine across the ocean, and 
assured bread and help to our associates in 
battle to whom we owed sustenance and aid. They 
set at naught the proud Prussian boast that they 
would bring Great Britain to the point of starva- 
tion, and have held the sea and kept open the road 
to France over which hundreds of thousands of 
American troops have been carried. 



[176] 



XIX 

COLLEGES IN THE NEW CRUSADE 

The world has learned as never before that the col- 
lege, the university is no cloistered retreat v^here men 
delve in dusty volumes, but that it is a work-shop where 
science adds to human happiness in peace and gives new 
strength to the national aim in war. Better than all: 
our colleges are the repositories of enthusiasm, patriotism 
and zeal, where youths follow Jefferson's injunction, 
"Love your country more than yourself," and in that 
sign they and other young Americans will conquer. 

Commencement Day, University of Virginia, Char- 
lottesville, Va., June ii, igi8. 

In the philosophy of Jefferson there is light 
and direction for every change and chance in hu- 
man experience. His understanding of human 
aspiration and his many-sided sympathies em- 
braced all ranges of thought, compassed all sys- 
tems of government, constituted him the coun- 
selor of men seeking the best in every domain of 
life, and make him to-day as much the brother 
of lovers of liberty as he v^as when he loved 
America and France into lasting friendship. It 
is the glory of this university, born in the brain 
of Jefferson, that its mission has ever been, as ex- 
pressed by its founder, ''for here we are not 

[177] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

afraid to follow truth wherever it may lead, nor 
to tolerate any error so long as reason is left free 
to combat it." In former annuals here in times 
of peace men have turned with confidence to the 
teachings and writings of Jefferson for right 
guidance. To-day, with all the world at war, 
what illumination shines from the lamps kindled 
by the Sage of Monticello? 

No man has lived who worshiped more sin- 
cerely at the shrine of peace than Jefferson, and 
yet he wrote the document that has furnished the 
slogans of every fighter for freedom for a cen- 
tury and a half. '1 abhor war and view it as the 
greatest scourge of mankind," he wrote to El- 
bridge Gerry in 1797. That sentiment, iterated 
and reiterated during his long life, was his pas- 
sion. It was not only consistent with, but a 
necessary accompaniment to his declaration made 
four years earlier, "We in Virginia are alarmed 
with apprehension of war, and sincerely anxious 
that it may be avoided; but not at the expense of 
our faith and honor." 

The America of to-day, with all its manhood 
and resource engaged in war, is animated by the 
spirit of Jefferson in regarding war as the great- 
est scourge of mankind, to be embraced only 
when to do otherwise would be at ''the expense of 
our faith and honor." This country sought to 
live in peace with all nations during the early 
months of this war, and vainly endeavored by 
diplomacy to end the murder of non-combatants 

[178] 



COLLEGES IN THE NEW CRUSADE 

at sea before resorting to the sword. In 1807 Jef- 
ferson wrote to Madame de Stael, ''When wrongs 
are pressed because it is believed they will be 
borne, resistance becomes morality." That was 
the impelling cause of America's entering this 
war. Wrongs — the wrongs of assassination and 
wanton disregard of plighted faith and the viola- 
tion of person and property — were ''pressed" 
against American rights by the Imperial German 
Government because its ruler believed "they 
would be borne." When reason, demands and 
diplomacy failed to preserve the right of peaceful 
nations to sail the seas and protect its people and 
maintain its rights, then, in the words of Jeffer- 
son, "resistance" became "morality." President 
Wilson's war message to Congress breathes the 
spirit of Jefferson. The people chose war as the 
last resort only. When crimes were multiplied 
and "pressed," failure to resist would have been 
proof of national lack of "morality" and evidence 
of national decadence. "If ever there was a holy 
war it was that which saved our liberties and gave 
us independence," declared Jefferson, looking 
back upon it and measuring it in the light of his 
abhorrence of war. His verdict upon the war of 
the Revolution will be the verdict of posterity 
upon the present war against Prussian aggres- 
sion. Is not that the most descriptive name to 
apply to it? 

Jefferson understood, too, the necessity and 
certainty of national unity during wars, when he 

[179] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

said, *'If we are forced into war we must give up 
political differences, and unite as one man to de- 
fend our country." What he asserted as essential 
when a country is at war has been attested to in 
our day by President Wilson, who recently said 
that one year of war had cemented us together 
as a nation more than half a century of peace. 

In what is our confidence of victory to-day? It 
is found in two utterances of Jefferson, as timely 
to-day as when uttered. Writing to General Shee, 
he said : "Whenever an appeal to force shall take 
place, I feel a perfect confidence that the energy 
and enterprise displayed by my fellow-citizens in 
the pursuits of peace will be equally eminent in 
those of war.'' He appreciated that a country 
without a large military establishment would 
make errors and would require time for the mobil- 
ization of its full strength, for he wrote in 1812 
to Duane, 'The seeds of genius, which nature 
sows with even hand through every age and 
country, and which only need soil and season to 
germinate, will develop themselves among our 
military men." Reverses came in that war, 
but the ''seeds of genius" germinated in Mac- 
donough in the decisive victory of Lake Cham- 
plain, though not till after military defeats on 
land had left our capital in ashes. Already these 
seeds have brought forth fruit in this way, the 
earnest of the full fruition when American genius 
shall have fully mobilized American power to 
throw its full strength and win victory for the 

[180] 



COLLEGES IN THE NEW CRUSADE 

very principles to which Jefferson dedicated his 
whole life. Though never wavering in his belief 
that war was the greatest scourge of mankind, 
he saw that the ''ugly and venomous toad" could 
yet 'Svear a precious jewel in its head/' for he 
wrote five years after its close to LaFayette : 'The 
War of 1812 has done us the further good of as- 
suring the world, that although attached to peace 
from a sense of its blessings, we will meet war 
when it is made necessary/' Can we not see in 
this the promise that good will come to us out of 
the tragedy of this w^ar in that the lesson will be 
taught for all time that the Rule of Force must 
be resisted — and will be successfully resisted at 
every cost and every sacrifice? 

Do we seek for the watchword and rallying 
cry that will stimulate to the sacrifices which vic- 
tory may demand ? We find it not only in the in- 
spiring messages and addresses of President Wil- 
son, now everywhere hailed as the spokesman of 
the doctrines Jefferson made immortal in the 
Declaration. But we find the one sentence that 
lifts us to the heights of duty and gives to us the 
stimulus that admits of no divided or half- 
hearted allegiance. If you wish truly to know the 
heart of a mature man, to understand fully his 
real creed and true belief, you do not seek them in 
his public utterances or studied addresses. He 
discloses his innermost self only when he is in 
companionship with boys and when he seeks to 
give them a lamp to their pathway. Volumes 

[181] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

have been written on Jefferson's creed — religious 
and political — and many caricatures of his real 
convictions have been paraded by quotations from 
his voluminous writings and private letters. But 
the interpreters of his faith have had no apprecia- 
tion of what Jefferson really believed since they 
have failed to understand that no man ever lived 
who could sit down and write out his creed any 
more than he can describe the loves and hopes 
and passions of his life. If I were asked where 
to examine the writings of the learned of all ages 
to emblazon on the banners under which millions 
of American youths are now fighting or prepar- 
ing to fight, I would turn instantly to Jefferson's 
letter written at the request of a father to Jeffer- 
son's namesake, Thomas Jefferson Smith. After 
admonishing the young man to ''Adore God; rev- 
erence and cherish your parents," Jefferson gives 
this epigrammatic advice which comes to us with 
peculiar force and freshness to-day: 

"Love your neighbor as yourself, and love your coun- 
try more than yourself." 

In this sentence there is all that patriotism 
breathes or teaches or expects or requires. 

We find in Jefferson's faith in youth the secret 
of his vision and his insight into world needs. To 
the last his association was with young men and 
to the system of education he planned for Vir- 
ginia he looked for worthy achievements from 
''youths of the best genius" the public schools 

[182] 



COLLEGES IN THE NEW CRUSADE 

would discover and the high schools and the uni- 
versities would fit for the highest uses in the 
State. He would have applauded the principle in 
the selective draft which calls only young men 
to the colors. ''Bonaparte," he wrote to a friend, 
'Vill conquer the world if the European powers 
do not learn the secret of composing armies of 
young men only, whose enthusiasm and health 
enable them to surmount all obstacles." He would 
have shared the pride in those college youths 

"Who took the khaki and the gun 
Instead of cap and gown" 

in the day when the gun represents the only ef- 
fective answer to Germany's demand for world 
domination. 

War challenges institutions. One result which 
will be lasting is the realization that college men 
in the acid test of war have made good. And 
there was need of a testing time. There was a 
feeling abroad, held by many successful men, that 
youths lost four years' time by their college 
studies. ''To win success, there is no more need 
of Greek than of Choctaw," solemnly declared a 
captain of industry a short time ago. He made 
his mistake because he did not know that Greek 
had given the world a literature. Laboring men 
had begun to think the products of the college and 
the university were soft high-brows whose edu- 
cation gave them an aloofness from their fellows 
and imparted no zeal to promote the common wel- 

[183] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

fare. In days of peace there was no effective 
answer to the idea that college education was not 
worth what it cost. In vain did the colleges pa- 
rade the names of distinguished alumni. The 
skeptics replied with names of equally useful men 
who had graduated only in the College of Hard 
Knocks. 

To-day debate is adjourned. When America 
entered the war, the college campus was deserted 
by men of the prescribed military age. In spite 
of the advice of the President and the Secretaries 
of War and Navy to continue their studies until 
they were called, undergraduates in their teens no 
longer took interest in their books, and many 
hastened to enlist. College men were among the 
first to respond, and their training demonstrated 
its worth in the readiness with which they mas- 
tered strategy and tactics. Equally quick were 
they to learn the intricacies of the machine gun 
and the science of navigation. They commanded 
the respect of their fellows and of the world not 
only because they learned rapidly, but also because 
they were as ready to march, dig trenches, hurl 
grenades, man big guns, serve on destroyers and 
submarines as to study text-books. And they won 
the love of their comrades and shipmates because 
they did not regard knowledge of Latin as enti- 
tling them to anything their skill and valor did 
not win for them. Indeed, their fellows soon 
found that knowledge made college youths hum- 
ble when they found how little they knew of the 

[184] 



COLLEGES IN THE NEW CRUSADE 

art of war, and that they eagerly sought instruc- 
tion from experienced soldiers and sailors, who, 
though often knowing nothing of equations and 
Greek roots, were able and glad to teach college 
graduates how to shoot, how to swim, how to 
march, and how to use the instruments of war- 
fare. In many a camp and on many a ship, col- 
lege graduates have looked with admiration upon 
the skill of experienced soldiers and sailors as 
they trained their guns upon enemies. If any of 
them, before this war began, thought college edu- 
cation gave the right to leadership, they soon 
learned that in war nothing entitles one to direct 
others except mastery of the strategy and weap- 
ons of war. 

If before this struggle youth, denied the advan- 
tages of college education, sneered at the "high- 
brows,'' the diligence and zeal of the collegians 
has changed all that, and trained men in arms 
have conceived a new respect for culture spelt 
with a ''C." Just as we have sorrowfully learned 
that culture spelt with a ''K" is a thing abhor- 
rent, so we have gladly turned to real culture 
with a confidence never felt before. Some 
thoughtful man has defined culture as something 
we once knew — which became the warp and woof 
of our being — but which we have forgotten. Not 
unlike this definition was the answer of the pro- 
fessor who w^as asked: ''Is it necessary for an 
educated man to know Greek ?" He replied : "No, 
but it is necessary that he should have known it." 

[185] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

The absorption of knowledge, the communion 
common with noble souls, the environment of let- 
ters, the inspiration of song and story, the study 
of history and biography — it is these, with the 
atmosphere of grace and gentle courtesy with 
open minds, with sympathy and love of one's fel- 
lows and devotion to one's country and to lofty 
ideals, which instinctively set apart the product 
of culture. Without the blending of these charms 
and acquirements, there may be knowledge deep 
and profound, but nothing that savors of the cul- 
ture that vaunteth not itself. 

The world has learned that, while some college 
men, upon entering the military service, assumed 
a role they could not act out, and while some felt 
their oats, and in a few were the signs of ^'upish- 
ness," these were negligible in numbers and the 
vast majority peeled ''spuds'' and scrubbed decks 
with as much thoroughness as they dived into the 
mysteries of logistics and ballistics. As a result, 
the college and the university have come into such 
favor as never before. The reason of this new 
popular confidence is that practical men, in a day 
when nothing counts but courage and efficiency, 
have examined the product of the college and 
found that it is very good. Not only have gradu- 
ates and undergraduates taken to the grim busi- 
ness of war with the enthusiasm that befits youth, 
but professors and instructors have set them an 
example in service that ennobles our institutions 
of learning. Authorized to speak for the Navy, 

[i86] 



COLLEGES IN THE NEW CRUSADE 

which has received a stream of splendid colleg;e 
men who are making good, and privileged to 
speak for the Secretary of War regarding the 
Army, where many more have already demon- 
strated their fitness, let me voice the appreciation 
and the debt of gratitude due to the colleges and 
universities for the material they have furnished, 
the spirit of high national ideals they have 
strengthened, and the awakening and shaping of 
popular sentiment for national unity to which 
their contributions have been so generous and so 
full. 

The college has found its place, the pinnacle 
where Jefferson's vision placed the University of 
Virginia. It is to train men to fight in the battles 
of war as in the battles of peace, for conflicts 
wage in both. And the world has learned as 
never before that the college, the university, is 
no cloistered retreat where men delve in musty 
volumes, but that it is a work-shop where science 
adds to human happiness in peace and gives new 
strength to the national arm in war. Better than 
all: our colleges are the repositories of enthusi- 
asm, patriotism and zeal, where youths follow 
Jefferson's injunction, "Love your country more 
than yourself," and in that sign they, and other 
young Americans, will conquer. 



[187] 



XX 

THE FORCE OF AN IDEAL STRONGER THAN THE 
IDEAL OF FORCE 

The Kaiser failed only because he did not understand 
that the Force of an Ideal is stronger than the Ideal of 
Force. It was this ideal passionately held to in the days 
of invasion that gave the Belgians the sublime courage to 
declare, 'This is a country and not a road." It was 
this ideal that turned the tide for liberty at the Marne 
and at Verdun and at the Aisne. It is this holy passion 
in France and in Great Britain and in Italy and the 
other nations that would not bow the knee to Autocracy 
which will do for all the world what Jefferson's declara- 
tion did for America: establish the right of all men to 
govern themselves. . 

Fourth of July Celebration by the Tammany Society 
of New York, July 4, 1918, 

One year ago to-day I had the pleasure of offi- 
cially announcing that all the units of the first 
convoy of American transports had safely landed 
their precious cargoes in France in spite of sub- 
marine attempts at sinking. The news cheered 
the people of the whole country because the boasts 
of the Germans at that period, when the sinking 
of ships by submarines was at its height, had 
alarmed many mothers and fathers. When, un- 
der the efficient escort of our vigilant and valor- 

[188] 



THE FORCE OF AN IDEAL 

ous destroyers, the ships carrying our first sol- 
diers of Hberty to return the call of LaFayette 
had landed these brave youths in safety, there 
was a sigh of relief and a prayer of thanksgiving, 
a patriotic Fourth of July rejoicing and a shout 
of praise for the men of the American Navy, 
whose protection gave fresh confidence in the 
ability of the Navy of our day to Hve up to its 
best traditions. 

So impressed was Congress and the country by 
this initial success of naval convoys that soon 
thereafter Congress voted the money to build as 
many destroyers as facilities could be provided for 
their construction. And we are building them in 
large numbers more rapidly than such craft were 
ever before completed. The world's record was 
broken when the Mare Island Navy Yard 
launched the Ward seventeen and a half days 
after the keel was laid. To-day one of the most 
impressive Fourth of July celebrations will be the 
launching of fourteen new destroyers, and scores 
more will be launched and commissioned before 
the end of summer, with an increasing number 
thereafter until these best foes of the submarine, 
and other ships in cooperation with like and 
other craft of allied nations, will free the world 
forever from the assassins of the seas, for Ger- 
man U-boats are being sunk faster than Germany 
can build them. 

We are launching this day more tonnage than 
that of all the American vessels sunk by subma- 

[189] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

rines since the war began. We are launching to- 
day more than the Germans sank of the ships of 
all nations in the last month for which we have 
the official figures. 

The recent enemy submarine activities off our 
coast resulted in the loss of 25,411 gross tons of 
American shipping. During this same time 130,- 
000 deadweight tons of shipping were built. 

The glee of the Central Empire press upon the 
appearance of submarines off the American coast 
will be of short duration. When the first mer- 
chant ship was sunk near our shores last month 
the Mannheimer General Anzeiger declared: 
"The French place their only hope for victory in 
America. Our submarines are delivering a de- 
cisive blow to French hopes in checking the trans- 
portation of American soldiers and supplies." 
The ''checking" resulted in carrying a quarter of 
a million soldiers to France since the first sub- 
marine was seen on this side of the Atlantic. The 
Austrian press was equally optimistic of the new 
frightfulness, for the Nenes Wiener Tagehlatt 
said: 'The last act of the world's tragedy is be- 
ginning. There will be scenes which will make 
the marrow in Wilson's bones turn cold." The 
scene of even one passenger ship torpedoed, and 
the cruel murdering of women and children 
gloated over by this Austrian journal, does indeed 
sicken the heart of the great American President. 
But, if that were possible, it strengthens his pur- 
pose and the high resolve of the American people 

[190] 



THE FORCE OF AN IDEAL 

to use force and force unreservedly until the seas 
shall be free from the submarines that slink be- 
neath the waves after they have sent their death- 
dealing torpedoes hurtling through the v^ater. 
The submarine will be a source of destruction as 
long as one skulks in the ocean, but as a possible 
effective menace in determining the result of this 
war, depth bombs, destroyers, cruisers, other 
ships and science unite to insure its ultimate im- 
potence as a decisive factor. 

Since last Independence Day a million men 
have been transported to Europe. Despite the 
constant threat of enemy submarines, coming al- 
most to our very shores in their murderous hate, 
not one American troop-ship bound for France 
has been sunk, and not one soldier on our naval 
transports has been lost. Two vessels carrying 
American troops abroad, the Tnscania and 
the Moldavia, have been torpedoed. The 
President Lincoln and the Antilles were sunk 
while returning; the Finland was torpedoed but 
reached port under her own steam, was repaired 
and put back into service. Our success in trans- 
porting a million men and millions of tons of 
supplies and munitions overseas is cause for 
the deepest gratitude, for we entered upon this 
enterprise, in the words of the Declaration, "with 
a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Provi- 
dence/' The success of the transport service has 
not only heartened our countrymen, but has won 
the admiration of men in all lands. Speaking of 

[191] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

it a short time ago, the First Lord of the British 
Admiralty said, '7^<^&^d from the standpoint of 
a seaman, it is unparalleled in history;" and, last 
week, Lloyd George, speaking in the House of 
Commons, stated, ''It is an amazing piece of or- 
ganization which has enabled the bringing of such 
a vast number of first-rate American troops to 
France.'' This ''amazing piece of organization" 
is a tribute to the men of both the Army and 
Navy, ashore and afloat. They have worked as 
true yoke-fellows. It is a matter which our sons 
will look back upon with pride that in this hour 
of national need perfect team work by Army and 
Navy and the British navy and our other allies 
made possible a result which military experts a 
year ago deemed beyond achievement. It would 
have been a tremendous task under peace condi- 
tions, but when we consider the added difficulties, 
the menace of the U-boats, and the increased 
perils of navigation in war times, does it not re- 
joice our hearts even as the Colonies were thrilled 
by the peals of the Liberty Bell ? For the success- 
ful landing of troops presages the ringing of lib- 
erty bells in lands which have never known the 
meaning of liberty, or heard the music of bells 
pealing out the glad message of freedom for all. 
Every wise business man has a day of inven- 
tory, when he takes stock, ascertains his assets 
and liabilities and strikes a balance. This ex- 
ample in the world of business was long ago 
adopted by the American Republic and from 1776 

[192] 



THE FORCE OF AN IDEAL 

the Fourth of July has been set apart as the day 
of inventory of our national life. 

Do our ideals and achievements put us on the 
credit side of the ledger? Jefferson admonished 
his countrymen to ''let the annual return of this 
day forever refresh our recollection of the rights 
in the Declaration of Independence and an un- 
diminished devotion to them/' It is in the spirit 
of the advice of the author of the Declaration 
that we are gathered here in this time of the 
world's trial to re-dedicate ourselves and all that 
we have and all that we are to the liberty which 
the valor of the men of Seventy-six won on this 
new continent. 

In other years, as we have assembled on this 
nation's holiday, when no supreme duty had sum- 
moned us to supreme sacrifice, we have weighed 
and measured our standards and our ideals. 
Sometimes, as we have contrasted them with 
those of the men who signed the Declaration, we 
have found them selfish and tawdry, with the 
verdict ''Weighed in the balance and found want- 
ing." Seers and statesmen in days of peace have 
called the people back to the ancient faith, and 
counseled them to be guided by the pillar of cloud 
by day and the pillar of fire by night which have 
led our country through the dangers of division 
and doubt and traffic in our ideals which have 
jeopardized the Republic. But to-day, conscious 
that, in devotion to a holy cause, we can say with 
Jefferson, "It is a heavenly comfort that these 

[193] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

principles are yet strongly felt;" and a greater 
comfort that in defense of these principles two 
million American youths have already taken up 
arms in the spirit voiced by Jefferson and guar- 
anteed to future generations in the victories of 
Washington. These, with ten million more in 
the selective draft and boys under age, are girding 
themselves for the conflict. 

It is as true to-day (perhaps it has a new signif- 
icance) as when Jefferson wrote to LaFayette, 
'We are not to expect to be translated from des- 
potism to liberty in a feather bed." He believed 
that "the disease of liberty is catching," and in 
1795 he predicted that ''the ball of liberty is now 
so well in motion that it will roll around the 
globe." We have lived to see that prophecy ful- 
filled in every country on this hemisphere where 
every government is governed by its own people 
without king or kaiser or emperor. 

Lincoln said the Republic could not endure half 
slave and half free, and the arbitrament of the 
sword proved the truth of his statement. It is 
equally true that the world cannot live in peace 
and honor half autocracy and half self-governing. 
There is an irrevocable conflict between these the- 
ories. Autocrats had seen the doctrine of self- 
government gradually extending its sway, some- 
times through indirection, but they sensed that 
it was surely undermining government imposed 
upon the people. And nobody knew this better 
than the Kaiser. 

[194] 



THE FORCE OF AN IDEAL 

He believed the time was ripe for either losing 
his unbridled power or imposing his rule upon 
Europe. He chose conquest, and struck viciously, 
quickly and vigorously. He failed only because 
he did not understand that the Force of an Ideal 
is stronger than the Ideal of Force. It was this 
ideal, passionately held to in the days of invasion, 
that gave the Belgians the sublime courage to 
declare, ''This is a country and not a road." It 
was this ideal that turned the tide for liberty at 
the Marne and at Verdun and at the Aisne. It 
is this holy passion in France and in Great Brit- 
ain and in Italy and the eighteen other nations 
that would not bow the knee to Autocracy which 
will do for all the world what Jefferson's Declara- 
tion did for America: establish the right of all 
men to govern themselves. 



[195] 



XXI 

MEN OF THE RED TRIANGLE 

At home and abroad, at the fighting front, in camps 
and training stations, on transports and at naval bases 
the Y. M. C. A. is stationed to cheer and aid our sol- 
diers and sailors. Its service is an inspiration, its work 
an exemplification of practical Christianity. 

Y. M. C. A. Meeting, Carnegie Hall, Nezv York, July 
8, ipi8. 

When America began in the first days of the 
war to call its young men into cantonments and 
training camps for service ashore and afloat, the 
need was felt for mobilizing every organization 
and agency to promote the happiness and welfare 
of these youths. The Government early under- 
stood and acted upon the knowledge, that war is 
more than fighting and that youths gathered in 
camp must be both morally and physically fit if 
they would win victories to the holy cause of 
which they were the Defenders. 

The Young Men's Christian Association early 
recognized its opportunity to bring forward its 
splendid machinery of action and its chivalric 
spirit of service, and presented its facilities as its 
contribution in helping to win the war. This As- 
sociation of Christian young men had been known 

[196] 



MEN OF THE RED TRIANGLE 

throughout the world for its aggressive helpful- 
ness wherever there was opportunity to serve. 
Never was a greater opportunity presented and 
never has any organization better met the chal- 
lenge that opportunity offered than in the ready 
and efficient response this Association has made 
since April 6th, 19 17. In these fifteen months it 
has summoned into service thousands of men 
whose hearts responded to noblest impulses, and 
has distributed them throughout camps, canton- 
ments and naval training stations in our land, on 
board transports and other ships, and has sent 
thousands more for service with the soldiers and 
marines who are fighting the battles of Democ- 
racy with our Allies ^'Over There." The people 
responded generously to the appeal for funds. 
The fifty million dollars which was asked for 
when the Association's program for service was 
first outlined, was subscribed with nearly twenty 
million over the mark. Patriotic citizens and 
philanthropists recognized their opportunity. 
They made investment which will return large 
dividends in the brighter light that it has caused 
to shine into the lives of soldier and sailor youths. 
Soldiers and sailors are being converted into 
a singing army and navy. CromwelFs men went 
into battle singing Christian hymns. They had 
no hate in their hearts, but were nerved by the 
faith that they were fighting for the principles of 
a holy religion. That conviction made them in- 
vincible. The most magnetic and compelling song 

[197] 



THE NAVY AND TJIE NATION 

leaders are found in the army and navy camps, 
spending themselves with utmost devotion in a 
task which is resulting in the development of an 
enthusiasm that increases cheerfulness, courage 
and chivalry. And because we believe, in Amer- 
ica, in institutions that are not only physical and 
mental and social, but also in institutions that are 
spiritual as well, the Association strives to meet 
the spiritual needs of our men who know they may 
soon be called upon to face death and danger. In 
the huts and structures where the Red Triangle 
men are to be found, the Y. M. C. A. leaders 
stand for a virile type of religion — a type that 
makes practical application of the fundamental 
principles of loving helpfulness of the Man of 
Galilee who counted not His life dear unto Him- 
self. 

Under date of May 15th General Pershing 
wrote his appreciation to the secretary in charge 
of the American Y. M. C. A. in France, and ex- 
pressed the feeling of many thousands of officers 
and men, when he quoted these sentiments which 
came to him from Col. E. S. Wheeler of the 19th 
Field Artillery, and were incorporated in a Gen- 
eral Order : 



"There is no one factor contributing more to the morale 
of the American Army in France than the Y. M. C. A. 
The value of this organization cannot be overestimated. 
When I come to the Y. M. C. A. Huts and see our 
men night after night, and one day after another in their 
spare moments enjoying the privileges created by a corps 

[198] 



MEN OF THE RED TRIANGLE 

of self-sacrificing Triangle Workers, I know that they 
are better men and better fighters for so doing. Give 
me 900 men who have a Y. M. C. A. rather than 1000 
who have none and I will have better fighters every 
time. I voluntarily make this statement because I am 
so appreciative of what your efforts mean to the morale 
of our army." 

During the German offensive, which for the 
moment halts but only to resume at no distant 
date, the Y. M. C. A. secretaries have nobly done 
their part. Many secretaries during attacks suf- 
fered from shell shock or gas. But we are told 
that they kept on doing their duty to their utmost. 
They responded enthusiastically to the intensified 
labor placed on them. They went as close to the 
front as was permitted, to carry creature com- 
forts to the men. Where communication was in- 
terrupted, they helped feed the troops, aid the 
wounded and assist the chaplains. In the ''big 
drive" many volunteered as stretcher bearers, and 
worked under fire fourteen days and nights with- 
out relief. Several have died from the effects of 
poison gas. 

Thirty Association workers among the French 
troops facing the German drive along the Aisne 
have been officially commended for the invaluable 
services they rendered. They held their places 
until the last retirement of the troops, aiding 
wherever it was possible. ''Stores of food" — the 
quotation is from the last issue of Association 
Men, official publication of the organization — 
"were distributed to weary poilus whose supplies 

[199] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

failed to reach them. Coffee and soup were made 
and served until the building was shattered by 
German shells. The workers made their way 
across the fields swept by shrapnel and under high 
explosive machine gun fire from German planes, 
carrying all equipment possible. A new position 
was taken up with the troops." 

Y. M. C. A. men have bravely faced the perils 
of the sea, as well as the dangers of the war on 
land. When the Oronsa, carrying more than 
half a hundred workers on their way to duty in 
the war zone, was torpedoed, the Y. M. C. A. men 
aboard exhibited the same calm courage in the 
face of danger that characterizes our soldiers in 
the trenches and our sailors on the sea. Not one 
of the party was lost or injured, due largely to 
perfect discipline. They had held daily military 
and life-boat drills and were prepared for any 
emergency that might arise. Every one was out 
of his cabin within a few seconds after the tor- 
pedo struck. There was no panic or excitement, 
and it was not only discipline and courage but the 
American spirit they manifested, for as the boats 
reached port the dispatches related that the party 
was singing. It must have inspired those ashore 
to hear the notes of 'The Star Spangled Banner" 
and ''Onward, Christian Soldiers" ringing out 
from these survivors of the Oronsa, and it must 
have added to their experience to be greeted, as 
they landed, by that veteran British soldier, Vis- 
count French, presenting his congratulations on 

[200] 



MEN OF THE RED TRIANGLE 

their escape and complimenting them on the man- 
ner in which they had faced imminent danger. 

At home and abroad, at the fighting front, in 
camps and training stations, on transports and at 
naval bases, the Y. M. C. A. is stationed, to cheer 
and aid our soldiers and sailors. Its service is 
an inspiration, its work an exemplification of 
practical Christianity. 



[2CI] 



XXII 

READY FOR ANY DUTY OR DANGER 

When our destroyers arrived the senior officer was 
met by the Admiral in command of the British forces, and 
given welcome. This done, the English Admiral turned 
to our young officer and asked, "When will you be 
ready?" and the reply was, *'We are ready now." That 
is the spirit of the American Navy. 

Newport, R. I., Naval Training Station, November ly, 
1917. 

A FEW weeks ago, it was my pleasure to review 
a parade of 20,000 members of the Red Cross who 
marched down Fifth Avenue in the City of New 
York, all women dressed in the uniform of that 
world-wide beneficent organization, and as I stood 
on the reviewing stand and saw those noble 
women, their faces consecrated with the good 
work, noble and unselfish, to which they had 
committed themselves, I thought it was the finest 
sight my eyes had ever rested upon. But, this 
morning, with the background of this beautiful 
body of water, gazing into the faces of men to 
whom the country looks with confidence in this 
hour of its crisis, I hardly know which is the 
more beautiful sight, but none of you will blame 
me if I give the honor to the girls. 

[202] 



READY FOR ANY DUTY OR DANGER 

It was only a few days, it was in fact before 
America entered upon this war and we had begun 
the study of world-wide conditions so as to be 
ready for the emergency, that the President of 
your War College, the distinguished Admiral 
Sims, was sent abroad to represent our Govern- 
ment in conference with the great naval chiefs of 
all the allied nations, and not long after war 
was declared there appeared one morning in the 
papers a statement that thrilled America, when 
without previous announcement the news came 
back that a company of our destroyers had gone 
across 'Wer there." With it there came a mes- 
sage which voices the spirit, voices the record, 
voices all that the history of our Navy stands for. 
You recall it. When our destroyers arrived the 
senior officer was met by the Admiral in com- 
mand of the British forces, and given welcome. 
This done, the English Admiral turned to our 
young officer and asked, 'When will you be 
ready?'' and the reply was, 'We are ready now.'' 
That is the spirit of the American Navy. It was 
supposed that these young men would wish to 
wait some days after they had arrived before they 
entered upon their arduous task. Outside of the 
Navy, I do not think anybody appreciates the rig- 
orous service on destroyers in the North Sea and 
Channel which confronts the men in this winter 
weather; and yet, though every man knows the 
service is a hard one, he covets it, and I believe 
nearly every young officer in the Navy who knows 

[203] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

me personally, and who thought he could do so 
without breaking the regulations, has asked to 
be sent on a destroyer to the war zone. As 
I passed down the lines to-day and talked to the 
splendid young men who are chiefs of their com- 
panies, I asked each one of them why he entered 
the Navy, and what he wished to do. The re- 
plies heartened me, and gave me a new feeling of 
confidence, and a new thrill of faith in the Amer- 
ican spirit, because nearly every one said, *'I en- 
tered the Navy to serve my country in its hour of 
need.'' Their ambition was to go where the 
fight was fiercest, and where their service should 
count most in defense of the liberties of their 
country. 

As you go into this service — this service of 
high ideals, this service which in all our history 
has ennobled our country because officers and men 
have ever held before them the ideals of honor 
and truth and courage — remember, young gentle- 
men, there is nothing in this world worth any- 
thing except character, and character expresses 
itself in clean living, in straight life, in earnest 
study, in honest effort, in willingness during time 
of crisis to forget self and remember nothing but 
duty, and it is for that service you have volun- 
teered. There is no man who has come into the 
Navy except through his own free will. You have 
left your private business, all of you making 
some sacrifice to serve your country, and in days 
to come, when we shall sum up the history of 

[204] 



READY FOR ANY DUTY OR DANGER 

these times — these days of tragedy, such as the 
world has not seen before — some historian with a 
vision and the knowledge of what naval men do 
will write the story of some achievement in a de- 
cisive moment bringing victory to the American 
arms. 

We have a great contempt for the slacker. In 
this hour, the young man in America who is phys- 
ically fit and does not don a uniform has no place 
in the esteem or the affection or respect of Amer- 
ica. What shall I say, however, of the young man 
in the Navy who when his country needs him and 
trusts him, shall, by a lapse of morals, disqualify 
himself for the high performance upon which his 
country rests, and in a crucial moment perhaps 
lose a battle because he has permitted his appe- 
tites and passions to weaken his moral stamina? 
We hear much talk of the ''morale" of the serv- 
ice but we have never understood how to spell the 
word. I tell you there is but one morale of the 
service and that is ''Morals." There can be no 
high morale in any service whose officers and men 
do not lead clean lives and do not put upon them- 
selves the self-restraint to walk straight, go into 
no place, and indulge in no habits, that when they 
returned to their homes, would make them fear to 
look their mothers straight in the eye. 

Two years ago, Lloyd George startled the 
Parliament of Great Britain when he said: "In 
this war England has two enemies, Germany and 
the Drink Evil, and of the two the more danger- 

[205] 



THE NAVY AND T.HE NATION 

ous is the Drink Evil/' He spoke a parable, 
young gentlemen, and our Congress, recognizing 
this, for the first time in history has put a ban 
upon it- and I call upon the people of this city and 
every city in America which has the proud privi- 
lege of extending hospitality to the hope of the 
nation to give them clean environment; and if 
they fail to do that, then I say they are recreant 
to the highest duty of hospitality and patriotism. 
In this Training Station you are being taught 
the lessons necessary for victory. There is noth- 
ing in life worth while that comes easily. You 
must earn it yourself. That is the eternal truth. 
A man of wealth may give his son money or op- 
portunities, but unless he has the stuff in him, 
he cannot hold his place. In the Navy, discipline 
is necessary to secure results, and the wise young 
man is he who puts restraint upon himself, who 
obeys orders promptly and who knows that if 
he ever hopes to rise to give orders, he must him- 
self have rendered ready obedience in all emer- 
gencies. 

REAL ''stuff" and ''pEP'' WILL ''wIN" 

Naval Training Station, Hampton Roads, Va,, July 
20, ipi8. 

It was a dream that we should create at Hamp- 
ton Roads, which the Almighty has made the ideal 
place, the greatest Naval Base in the world. That 
dream is being realized, and you are the first 
fruits of this station, where we shall frame into 

[206] 



READY FOR ANY DUTY OR DANGER 

sailors thousands and tens of thousands of young 
men who will, by their courage and their fitness 
and their stuff (I like the word '^stuff/' boys; 
it may not be the best word in the diction- 
ary, but the two best words to characterize a boy 
is that he has stuff and pep). It is by your fit- 
ness and stuff we will win the war. The reason 
to-day that your brothers who are fighting in 
France are driving back the legions of the Kaiser 
is because when they left home in America, they 
had the pep to swear they would do it or die, 
and the reason that the submarine menace, al- 
ways a menace, as long as that shark of the sea 
skulks beneath the waves — the reason that men- 
ace has been reduced, and will continue to be re- 
duced as fast as you boys get over there, is 
because American boys have got the stuff to 
drive the Huns under the water, and keep them 
there. 

The other night I was on a train coming down 
from Albany, and a couple of young sailors from 
a certain battleship, fine looking chaps they were 
— almost as good looking as you boys, but not 
quite — they came to me in the Pullman, recog- 
nized me from my own good looks in the papers, 
and said : 'We wish to apologize for making this 
request, but we are so crazy to go over and get 
the Kaiser that we want to ask you to order the 
ship we are on to go across," and I told them I 
would do it. The ship they are on has been sent 
across; and when the hour comes for the great 

[207] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

battle of dreadnaughts, which will probably be 
the decisive battle of this war and make forever 
impossible the ravages of the shark, otherwise 
submarine, — these chaps on this ship, and other 
young men of courage and stuff and pep, will win 
a victory for the principles that have caused you 
to enlist and will win for you a high place in the 
pages of American naval history. 

You know, this Navy you belong to is the great- 
est institution in the world, and has in its ranks 
to-day over four hundred and fifty thousand men 
— the very flower of America. That is you; 
don't be modest about it. If any one tells you the 
young men of the Navy are the finest fellows in 
the world, blush a little, but speak right up and 
say: 'We know it." And why do you know it? 
Because your brothers are across winning world- 
wide praise, and you will soon join them in end- 
ing the submarine menace. We are building ships 
as fast as facilities will permit, so that you can go 
over and take part in a struggle in which no man 
can engage unless in his heart he has the spirit 
of liberty and whose spirit gives him courage and 
strength. 

Sometimes you see a man in the war who 
when he starts into battle is a little nervous, 
and some people doubt his courage. I do not sup- 
pose that any man ever went into battle who was 
not nervous. I never try to make a speech that I 
do not get nervous. That being true about a small 
thing like a speech, I know if I went into battle, 

[208] 



READY FOR ANY DUTY OR DANGER 

and you had to go, we would all be under a tension 
and strain ; but we would all be like that French 
general at the battle of the Marne. When the 
French repelled the oncoming horde of the Huns 
and the order came to advance, he shook all over 
Hke a leaf and that mortified him and humiliated 
him, because he knew men about him would say he 
was not brave, and he knew he was brave. So he 
pointed to his body and said: ''You old carcass, 
what do you mean by disgracing me by shaking 
like this?" Then he paused and added: "If you 
knew where I am going to take you to-day you 
would shake more than you do now ;" and he car- 
ried that old carcass into the fight, and when 
night came the Germans had retreated. 

It is a great honor, and a privilege, to be the 
father of four hundred and fifty thousand boys 
and they are some boys. There never was a 
time in our history when the Navy was so safely 
anchored in the affection and confidence of the 
American people, and it is because that back home 
where you came from, and the other boys like you 
came from, the people know that you have come 
into this service, putting aside many of your am- 
bitions, some of you leaving your sweethearts 
with great regret — but they will wait for you, and 
when you come back you will come back as heroes 
and they will welcome you with honor and love. 
And while you are gone, be true to them. Mind 
you, while you fight remember you are fighting 
for home and for the kind of government that 

[209] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

made our fathers and our mothers what they are. 
Whether you are in Hampton Roads, or on ships, 
or in France or Great Britain, I counsel you boys 
not to do anything that you could not go back 
home and look your mother in the eye and tell her 
you had done. You cannot win this war, no na- 
tion can win it unless they can shoot straight; 
and men cannot shoot straight unless they live 
straight ; so that I adjure you as a father and as 
a brother, not only to develop the ability to per- 
form every duty with every ounce of power you 
have, but also to keep your bodies clean and your 
souls pure, so that when you celebrate victory — 
and you are going to celebrate it — you may come 
back home clean. 

I see some men, but very few of them now, who 
have long faces and are very much afraid that 
American pep will not win, but they are all men 
who are not fighting. Was there ever a man in 
the Navy who doubted we would lick the Hun? 
When I see a few of these pessimists on land 
who do not put their lives in jeopardy by offer- 
ing the most precious thing a man can give to 
his country, I tell them just to look at the Navy 
boys, who not only know that our cause is just, 
but know that they have the stuff to *'put it over/' 

I want you boys, all of you, to be full of ambi- 
tion and aspire to do the best you can, knowing 
that in the American Navy it is the policy and 
purpose and resolve, as nearly as possible, to pro- 
mote every man who shows the fitness and abil- 

[210] 



READY FOR ANY DUTY OR DANGER 

ity, to higher rank. I have had the privilege in 
recent months to promote to commissioned rank 
more than fifteen hundred men from seamen, and 
I expect to commission thousands more during the 
next six months. 

You boys can secure advancement in only one 
way, and that is by mastering the details that are 
given to you every day. 

I heard some time ago of a fellow who entered 
the Navy; he was a graduate of a big college. 
Some one took a picture of him peeling potatoes 
(I believe we boys call them spuds), and when he 
saw the picture he said: "Gee! I hope my girl 
don't see this; she thinks I am off sinking sub- 
marines." 

The father of a veiy able young fellow, who 
had graduated from one of our highest insti- 
tutions of learning, came to me and complained 
that his son, a graduate of a college, was on a 
little submarine chaser peeling potatoes, and he 
ought to be doing something better. I said: 'T 
hope your son is peeling them well.'' Education 
is not worth anything to a man unless it teaches 
him to do whatever he is called upon to do, better 
than a man who had not had training; so with all 
the knowledge you have, whatever duty is placed 
upon you, even if it is peeling spuds, see that you 
do it better than the other fellow. Get the most 
out of a potato; some fellows when peeling po- 
tatoes leave very little of the potato. Mr. Hoover 
wouldn't like that. Whatever you are called upon 

£211] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

to do in this war is honorable and useful, and you 
cannot be called to a place of responsibility until 
you have mastered what is called the small things ; 
but there isn't anything small in this war. The 
man who learns the signals on the ship, and who 
learns wigwagging (boys, it's pretty hard to 
learn, too), is doing a great stunt. It may win 
the decisive battle. It looks very easy when you 
see a fellow signaling, but it means that a mis- 
take there might mean the loss of the fleet, so that 
the smallest thing may become the largest thing. 
I counsel you to do what you think is the smallest 
thing just as conscientiously as Admiral Benson 
here performs all his duties to the best of his abil- 

There isn't any organization in the world where 
team work is as essential as in the Navy. I don't 
care how great the Admiral is, if the wigwagger 
fails to do his work well, the Admiral fails; and 
from the Admiral down, like baseball, there must 
be team work. You boys know a pitcher cannot 
win a game if the outfielder muffs the ball. So 
in the Navy, it is team work. You may learn to 
do your job a little better and then get a big job; 
for the best man and the fittest man in the world 
is the man who takes orders and "goes to it." 

I am glad to see you boys, and I shall go back 
to Washington with a new inspiration and a new 
faith and renewed confidence that America in our 
day is of the same stuff that it was in the days of 
John Paul Jones and Paul Revere. I wish you 

[212] 



READY FOR ANY DUTY OR DANGER 

to know always that in Washington in the Navy 
Department those of us committed to responsible 
duties have you in our hearts, and have such con- 
fidence in you that we would send any one of you 
on a submarine chaser up to Berlin to scalp the 
Hun and know you would do it by yourself. 

All I have to say in conclusion is that it is a 
very great privilege to serve with you. I never 
place myself in any capacity except shoulder to 
shoulder and elbow to elbow with the young men 
in the Navy, and I refuse to be counted with these 
old fellows. We look to them for advice and wis- 
dom and counsel, but we boys have got to win the 
war, and we are going to do it. 



[213] 



XXIII 

OUR SOUTH AMERICAN SHIPMATES 

These two mighty dreadnaughts, though heavily ar- 
mored and carrying big guns, which come on this mission 
of good will, are the fitting symbol of the strength of a 
common ideal of Pan-American solidarity which, with 
God's help, will never be used but for our common de- 
fense in upholding the cause of humanity and justice. 

Dinner in honor of the Oificers of the Argentine bat- 
tleship "Rivadavia" and the Brazilian battleship "Sao 
Paulo," New York, August 21, igi8. 

A FEW months ago a squadron of the United 
States Navy paid a visit to tv^o republics v^hich 
we regard as near neighbors and friends. When 
Admiral Caperton's fleet reached the Republics 
of Brazil and Argentina, the officers and men re- 
ceived the most wonderful and cordial reception 
that our Navy has received from any countries in 
all its history. And they came back to their own 
country, every one of them, filled Vv^ith a spirit of 
brotherhood, and now that we are honored by a 
visit from the navies of those two republics, we 
wish them to know that, though plunged in the 
midst of a war that demands all our thought, we 
hold them in such regard and so highly appreciate 
the honor they have done us, that we put aside for 

[214] 



OUR SOUTH AMERICAN SHIPMATES 

the time the engrossing duties imposed by war, 
to gather here to-night to extend to them from the 
Government of America our warm welcome, re- 
gretting that we can but feebly show the warmth 
of our regard and hospitality. We extend for 
the whole country to the commanders of two of 
the most powerful dreadnaughts that have sailed 
the seas, to all the trained officers and splendid 
seamen, our cordial greeting and hearty welcome. 
These dreadnaughts come on a mission of friend- 
ship. Though they are heavily armored and have 
powerful guns, neither the Republic of Brazil, nor 
Argentina nor the Republic of the United States 
of America ever armed their ships with any 
thought that any one of them will visit one an- 
other's country except in love and amity and mu- 
tual helpfulness. 

To the officers of these dreadnaughts and to 
the fine sailors who man them, I wish, as Secre- 
tary of the Navy, to tender the nation's welcome. 
It is with a feeling of special satisfaction that I 
have the honor of meeting and welcoming the 
naval representatives of our two great sister re- 
publics of South America. This feeling springs 
primarily from the thought that in the midst of 
this world-wide nightmare of war we of the west- 
ern hemisphere stand firmly united as friends. 
Our friendship is not a result of courtesy or of 
pretense — it springs neither from fear nor inter- 
est. These two mighty dreadnaughts which come 
on this mission of good will are the fitting sym- 

[215] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

bols of the strength of a common ideal of Pan- 
American solidarity which, with God's help, will 
never be used but for our common defense in up- 
holding the cause of humanity and justice. We 
greet our naval visitors as ^'shipmates." There 
is no relation in life so intimate, so cordial, so 
sympathetic as that which exists between ship- 
mates. I remember some time ago meeting an 
Admiral, now on the retired list, and chatting 
with him on the train. I spoke of having met, 
the day before, a clear-headed boatswain in the 
navy, a man who had served for forty years, a 
splendid type of the American sailor capable 
enough to hold the rank of Captain, and I asked 
the Admiral, ^'Do you know Bo'sun Hill?" He 
answered, *'Why, of course I do. I know him 
well, we were shipmates" — and in that word 
''shipmate" goes a something of intimacy and 
sympathy and comradeship that you do not find 
anywhere in any other relationship in life. 

Those of you who are not in the navy — and I 
am sorry for you — ; you would all be in if you had 
been lucky enough ; most of you are trying to get 
into this noble service. In these days we have a 
hard time because of the onrush, to keep men out 
of the navy. Those of you who are not in the 
navy may have some faint understanding of what 
"shipmate" means if you will reflect upon some 
long voyage you have taken as passenger on a 
ship. You will remember that on this voyage you 
unbosomed your soul to some new acquaintance 

[216] 



(OUR SOUTH AMERICAN SHIPMATES 
and told him, without ever intending to do it, 
the secrets of your Hfe, which you never would 
^have told to any man on land. There is some- 
thing about the sea that encourages confidences 
and intimacies. The common dangers, the com- 
mon perils, the common love of the sea ties men 
together ; and that is true particularly and pecu- 
liarly of the navies of our country and of Brazil 
and of Argentina. These three countries of wide 
expanse have in common the large vision and com- 
mon aim which unite us in a common destiny. In 
our broad domains with large expanse of terri- 
tory, where men can live and work in the open, 
the people of the New World were free to work 
out the processes of government unhampered by 
tradition and uninfluenced by the ambitions and 
fears of near neighbors. 

Some days ago there was printed in one of our 
papers a brief composition written by a French 
girl. It ran something like this : 

"It was only a little river — not much larger than a 
brook. It was called the Yser. It was so small that 
you could talk from bank to bank without raising your 
voice. The swallows could fly across with one sweep 
of their wings. On those banks millions of men were 
standing — eye to eye, but the distance that separated 
them was as great as the distance that separates the 
stars ; the difference between right and injustice. 

"The Atlantic Ocean is a vast body of water, so great 
that the sea gulls dare not fly across. It takes the great 
American liners 7 days and 7 nights going at full speed 
before they sight the lighthouses of France — but, from 
shore to shore, hearts are touching." 

[217] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

In mutual sacrifice America and Europe are 
forging chains of friendship that can never be 
broken. But it did not require the sacrifice of war 
and the comradeship of the trenches and the perils 
on the sea, though separated by miles, to make 
the friendship between our country and yours, sir, 
and yours (addressing the Ambassadors and offi- 
cers from Brazil and Argentina), such that our 
hearts touched; they have always touched since 
the Monroe Doctrine kindled it into lasting love. 
No nation is untouched by the nightmare of war 
that has fallen upon the world, whether it be a bel- 
ligerent nation pouring its blood and treasure into 
the cause, or whether it be a neutral nation seek- 
ing its rights in a war full of peril to neutrals. 
When this war shall end — and it will not end until 
liberty prevails in all the world — when this war 
shall end, we shall have a new heaven and a new 
earth. Old conditions have passed away, and the 
new problems that come to us will demand the 
wisdom, the unity and the solidarity of all the 
Americas to settle them wisely for ourselves and 
for the world. 

Too long our country has defied the Biblical in- 
junction which says a man shall not live unto him- 
self. It is as true of nations as of individuals. 
No nation can live unto itself. The ancients 
taught that oceans and seas were made to sepa- 
rate nations. We have learned that they bring 
together into intimacy people of varying tongues 
and varied interests. We have thought in this 

[218] 



OUR SOUTH AMERICAN SHIPMATES 

country that if the United States prospered with- 
in its own borders all was well. We have closed 
our ears so that we have not heard the call that 
told us that our duty did not end with the shore 
line, and we have lacked the vision in these latter 
days which Monroe had, a vision which saved 
this whole hemisphere to republican government. 
For fifty years we had forgotten how to build 
ships, though in our early days this was a ship- 
building nation and we won our first wealth and 
primacy on the sea. For almost half a century 
shipbuilding has been a craft and not a trade. The 
natural result has been that the United States of 
America has failed in its duty of sending ships 
and ships and more ships to our South American 
Republics, where we could, with them, enlarge 
American commerce and bless ourselves and our 
neighbors. It required the stress of war for us 
to begin ship construction, but having begun it, 
we will never stop it until the American Republics 
have enough ships to ply between this and every 
port of every part of America from Greenland 
to the Straits of Magellan. 

This gathering and its better understanding 
heartens those of us who have long wished to see 
closer commercial and friendly intercourse be- 
tween our Republic and all the Republics of 
America. First of all, we rejoice that our navies 
are getting closer together. That must be the 
beginning of a great merchant marine, for no na- 
tion not bent on conquest ever had a great navy 

[219J 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

unless it had a great merchant marine. They go 
together. And we are constructing a strong navy 
and the work will go on until we have the great- 
est navy in the world, which will strengthen the 
hands of our republic and your republics — a navy 
that, joined with the navies of our sister repub- 
lics, will sail the free seas, free forever, with no 
hindrance from submarines or mines, and bring 
about those ties of fraternity and of commerce 
and trade which shall develop your resources and 
our resources, and give to the Americas the place 
the early discoverers dreamed of and planned on 
a large scale. I regard the coming of these ships 
and of these splendid officers and men as a symbol 
of the solidarity of the power of Pan-American- 
ism, as an omen that the day is dawning when all 
the republics of America will realize the ideal of 
a bond of common union, of ''all for one and 
one for all." 



[220] 



XXIV 

LOYALTY OF LABOR 

It is well known that, of all men, Peace is dearest to 
those who earn their bread in the sweat of their face. 
Before liberty was imperiled by Prussian Junkerism 
every labor organization was a Peace Society, but every 
one was a Peace Society based upon the paradox of Buck 
Fanshaw: "We will have peace if we have to fight for 
it." And they are fighting now to end war in their day 
and for all time. 

Labor Day, Indianapolis, Ind., Sept. 2, 1^18. 

In the crucial days through which we are pass- 
ing, American patriotism and confidence in vic- 
tory rest, next to confidence in the valor of our 
fighting forces, upon the knowledge that Ameri- 
can toilers are loyal to the core. I say knowl- 
edge, for wherein we must needs have exercised 
faith sixteen months ago, at this hour we stand 
upon the sure foundation of works that have jus- 
tified our faith. The full and complete enlist- 
ment of Labor in this country has not only heart- 
ened America, but it has as well cheered and 
strengthened the heroic men fighting for liberty 
across the sea. The magnificent reception of 
Samuel Gompers in Great Britain, hailed there 
as the labor apostle of the doctrine 'Win the 

[221] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

War/' shows that labor loyalty here has stimu- 
lated the spirit of fighting to victory in all allied 
countries. The full consecration of men of toil in 
our country has been demonstrated in their doff- 
ing overalls and donning the military uniforms; 
in their increase in production in field and fac- 
tory of everything needed for the maintenance of 
army, navy and civilian population; in their ro- 
bust patriotism applied in building ships in the 
coldest winter ever known at a speed without par- 
allel; in the rapid production of munitions and 
all war material ; and in their eagerness to prose- 
cute the war by investing their earnings in Liberty 
bonds, and in all causes that contributed to war 
needs. But we owe more to the spirit of whole- 
hearted devotion to this free land and its free 
institutions by organized labor, to which we owe 
this Labor Day holiday, than to any and all con- 
tributions of skill and savings. It is well known 
that, of all men. Peace is dearest to those who 
earn their bread in the sweat of their face. Be- 
fore liberty was imperiled by Prussian Junker- 
ism every labor organization was a Peace Society, 
but every one was a Peace Society based upon the 
paradox of Buck Fanshaw: "We will have peace 
if we have to fight for it.'* And they are fighting 
now to end war in their day and for all time. 

When war came there were people across the 
seas, and some people w^ith no real knowledge of 
the American men in factories, who asked: "Will 
labor in America meet the test? Will it be 

I222} 



LOYALTY OF LABOR 

ready to make the supreme sacrifice?'' Nobody 
has asked that question since organized labor 
under the leadership of William B. Wilson and 
Samuel Gompers voiced the Americanism of the 
unions, and expressed as well the loyalty of Labor 
without as well as within the organizations. The 
answer is written in deeds that none may ques- 
tion. 

The w^orld after peace shall have been won will 
not go back to conditions such as existed prior to 
our entrance into the mighty struggle. The peo- 
ple will take on new dignity. What labor earns 
will find its way into the pockets of labor. New 
conditions will impose new duties. Statesman- 
ship of vision will create new opportunities for 
American commerce and guarantee to labor the 
bread it has earned. Political shibboleths that 
men heeded in 191 6 are as dead as the mummies 
of Egypt, and public men who try to galvanize 
them will be interred in the catacombs that lie 
adjacent to Salt River. This war is fundamental. 
Its effect will be to change everything. Trade 
and commerce and finance will seek new and 
broader fields and men seek nobler standards. 
The large returns from farm and factory will not 
go to the few, but will be apportioned to men of 
brain and brawn in proportion to the value of 
their contribution. There will be a more equita- 
ble division between capital and labor. But no 
riotous Bolshevikism, no failure to protect alike 
property and labor, no class domination that lends 

[223] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

itself to injustice or wrong can flourish on this 
continent. Justice presides over both the rights 
of man and his rights of property. There will be 
no place in this new world for the leadership 
either of timid men or those who grasp at the 
shadows of issues which the war has relegated to 
the scrap heap. The man who prates of doctrines 
good in an isolated country will have empty 
benches for an audience. During the war we 
have not hesitated at any action, however radical 
it was regarded by conservatives in other times, 
that would help to win the war. We have em- 
ployed weapons both ancient and modern. Some 
of our men are wearing coats of mail, others are 
mounting the heavens. The javelin of the cave- 
dweller has its place with the latest concoction of 
poisonous gas. Even so, in the new time now 
shortly at hand, our real leaders will be those 
who will not reject a method or a principle be- 
cause it is old or embrace it because it is new. We 
will prove all things in order that we may hold 
fast only to that which is good for an heritage to 
be handed down by the generation that stood in 
its lot in these days and saved the civilized world. 
Already the demands of national necessity have 
required the Government to take over the opera- 
tion of the railroads, the telegraph, the telephones 
and the canals. We have abandoned for the war 
voluntary service and mobilized the whole country 
to one end and occupation. We have told men 
what they shall eat and what they shall wear and 

[224] 



LOYALTY OF LABOR 

when and how much they shall ride. We have 
made transportation on land and sea a virtual 
monopoly. We have put aside our century-old 
fear of entangling alliances with European na- 
tions. We have had but one principle since the 
President in the halls of Congress gave expres- 
sion to the national conviction that the course of 
the German Empire demanded that America must 
make the world safe for democracy. We are 
wholly enlisted until the objects stated by the 
President shall have been achieved. And then — 
and then, what? Will we return to the methods 
and thoughts of policies of pre-war days? The 
man who supposes he will ever again live in a 
world like that which existed prior to the war has 
read history to little purpose. We will not be 
afraid in peace to do revolutionary things that 
help mankind, seeing we have become accustomed 
to doing them during the war. What shape will 
our after-the-war radicalism take? No man is 
wise enough to prophesy ; but it is safe to say our 
first and imperative duty here in America is to 
make Democracy safe for the world. It would be 
the tragedy of tragedies if after our sacrifices to 
make the world safe for democracy our democ- 
racy would not be of a brand to bless the world. 
It must be purged of all class distinction, of every 
vestige of privilege, of every hoary-headed tradi- 
tion that fetters justice. It must be a democracy 
such as Jefferson formulated and Lincoln 
strengthened. Its standard must be equal rights 

[225] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

to all ; special privileges to none. But this gen- 
eration must live in the spirit of Jefferson and 
Lincoln, and not be bound by policies which suit- 
ed their day. We will not be called upon to fight 
primogeniture and the union of church and state 
and foreign control which Jefferson successfully 
opposed. Human slavery, which Lincoln ended 
for the good of both races and the glory of his 
country, no longer needs to be opposed. But let 
us not doubt that there will be lions in our path 
if we tread the hard road of duty. Profiteers in 
war, worse than slackers and cowards, will not be 
easily routed in peace. 

Invoking the spirit of patriotism, giant evils 
will follow this as all other wars. Eternal vigi- 
lance will still be the price of Liberty. Men more 
careful to preserve the status quo of 191 2 than to 
secure equal and exact justice will not be wanting. 
There will be as much need for courage to fight 
for real democracy when peace smiles as there is 
need now to oppose German aggression. But the 
spirit of hostility to absolutism will burn brightly 
in the breasts of the millions of the young men re- 
turning victorious from the Rhine. They will 
have cut their way through shell and barb wire 
to the Rhine, and they will come back home with 
the high resolve that America shall give them and 
their fellows the kind of country that is worthy 
of their heroism. This is our faith: The heroes 
of to-day in the trenches must be heroic in civil 

[226] 



LOYALTY OF LABOR 

life, at the ballot box and in the halls of legis- 
lation to-morrow. 

The world in which we shall live will apply 
the acid test to every man who asks trust or con- 
fidence: "What did you do from April 6, 1917, 
to win the great victory?" and woe to the man 
of strength and health who cannot say: "1 gave 
myself, my life, my all m the service where the 
Selective Draft placed me/' If he cannot truly 
say this it were better for him that a millstone 
were hanged about his neck and he were cast into 
the midst of the sea. 

What will these men who have wrought well in 
furnace, or trenches or on the sea do when they 
come into their own? They will stand for Jus- 
tice, for law and order. Anarchy, Bolshevikism, 
privilege, predatory business cannot escape their 
wrath. They will have a world-vision and will 
demand a treaty with all self-governing nations 
to preserve the peace of the world, and will main- 
tain a powerful navy to help to enforce the de- 
crees of the tribunal they will set up. They will 
continue to enlarge the merchant marine so that 
American bottoms will carry American goods and 
exchange products with every nation and with 
all the isles of the sea. They will be less con- 
cerned as to whether this is by public or private 
ownership than with securing and enlarging 
world-wide commerce. The odds are that they 
will see in government ownership and direction 
the best agency, but they will discard that if pri- 

[227^ 



THE NAVY AND T.HE NATION 

vate ownership insures the best results. They will 
never return to duplication of railroad transpor- 
tation and competition in terminals and facilities. 
All the benefits which government operation of 
railroads have given will be continued, whether 
the railroads are in public or private ownership. 
The telephone and telegraph will probably be a 
permanent part of the postal service, though the 
men who will then rule America will be open- 
minded enough to discuss the best method of com- 
munication. The lessons of sanitation and war 
on drink and immoral disease will insure to the 
civilian population as great care and as scientific 
effort in the methods of prevention and cure as 
war has taught are needed for the men under 
arms. 

These men will have little patience with the 
how-not-to-do-its and the better-stick-to-the-old- 
way apostles and apologists. Men who have dug 
trenches under the fire of the enemy, stood on de- 
stroyers unafraid when struck by torpedoes, en- 
dured privation in the armies, and toiled to weari- 
ness on farm and in factory to win the war — 
these men will base their creed upon the Declara- 
tion of Independence and the Treaty of Peace, 
and the men who wish to build high walls to make 
an isolated America or turn national wealth into 
selfish channels will be little heeded in the for- 
ward march as these men make America truly 
democratic, where all men have equal opportunity, 

[228] 



LOYALTY OF LABOR 

and where no man can ^'take from the mouth of 
labor the bread it has earned." 

In the Golden Age of the Republic now soon to 
dawn, when only men who have made sacrifices 
will be deemed worthy of a seat in the council 
chambers, Labor will come into its own. It will 
not seek anything for itself that it has not earned. 
It will ask nothing that will take what belongs 
to others. It will not foregather only with men 
of its own craft, but will keep America free from 
class consciousness and from class political 
action. It will claim for itself justice and equality 
and will demand that all Americans alike shall 
have no less; the equal enjoyment of the birth- 
right of all citizens of this free Republic. 



[229] 



XXV 

Lafayette's prophecy fulfilled 

In responding to a toast which gave him title as "the 
great apostle of personal liberty," LaFayette counseled 
against any division of the Union and accompanied it 
with a prophecy which is this day being fulfilled before 
the very eyes of a million and a half Americans in 
France, who, with brave men of other free nations, are 
making real his prediction. The toast he offered was: 

''Perpetual union among the United States ; it has saved 
us in our times of danger, it will save the world." 

Celebration of LaFayette's Birthday at LaFayette 
Monument, Washington, September 6, i^i8. 

Every notable period furnishes its prophet. 
Contrary to the accepted opinion, prophets are not 
dreamers. They are doers. They prophesy and 
help to fulfill that which they foretell. For more 
than a century, upon each recurring September 
6th, when the birthday of LaFayette has been cel- 
ebrated, gifted speakers have presented him as the 
superb soldier, the chivalric knight, the chevalier 
of ''the gentleman among nations," the devoted 
friend, the courageous champion of the rights of 
man, and the foe of every form of tyranny and 
absolutism. 

To-day, as we stand at the base of this noble 
[230] 



LAFAYETTE'S PROPHECY FULFILLED 

monument, erected in a country whose love shines 
brighter than its gratitude, let us think of him 
rather as the man of prophecy and faith. He was 
the seer who saw where others were blind, the be- 
liever in a generation which lacked vision. There 
were other men as courageous, many who gave 
their lives in battle. Then, as now, courage was 
the commonest as well as the noblest virtue of our 
humanity. France was not wanting in men of 
ideals, in men who dreamed of liberty, and in men 
who hoped and prayed that the Americans would 
win their independence. LaFayette, with the au- 
dacity of faith found only in youths of adventure, 
saw in the young Republic the hope of humanity. 
It was as real to him before he set out on La Vic- 
toria to become the associate and friend of Wash- 
ington as when his prayers were answered as the 
French fleet appeared in the offing at Yorktown 
and won a notable naval victory, the significance 
of which was long not appreciated. Looking back 
upon the Revolution, in which he bore so conspic- 
uous a part, LaFayette wrote: 'This was the last 
struggle of liberty. Its defeat would have left it 
without a refuge and without a hope." 

LaFayette the Prophet ! Let that be our theme 
to-day. In 1825, with the natural desire of 
the old to revisit the scenes of their youthful 
struggles, he made a visit to America which will 
ever be memorable. No citizen of our own coun- 
try ever received so loving a welcome. His jour- 
neys were triumphal processions. The ardor of 

[231] 



THE NAVY AND TJIE NATION 

revolutionary days was rekindled. In the capital 
of the Republic he was received with every honor 
and distinction. At a dinner in his honor, at- 
tended by President Monroe, Mr. Gaillard, the 
presiding officer of the Senate; Henry Clay, 
Speaker of the House, and other eminent men, in 
responding to a toast which gave him title as ''the 
great apostle of national liberty," LaFayette 
counseled against any division of the Union and 
accompanied it with a prophecy which is this day 
being fulfilled before the very eyes of a million 
and a half Americans in France, who, with brave 
men of other free nations, are making real his 
prediction. The toast he offered was : 

'Terpetual union among the United States; it 
has saved us in our times of danger; it will save 
the world." 

That prophecy did not pass without comment, 
for Niles' Register in remarking upon the occa- 
sion said it was ''one of the proudest days in the 
annals of our country," and with the prescience 
which enabled the writer to see the year 191 8, 
added, "a day which will be told with high satis- 
faction to our remote posterity." As we stand be- 
neath the figure of Prophet LaFayette, the echoes 
of that gathering come down to us. The union of 
the United States had secured the independence 
of our country and made it the beacon light of 
liberty. LaFayette, with an insight into the 
struggle of this decade, with the assurance of the 

[232] 



LAFAYETTE'S PROPHECY FULFILLED 

prophets of old, stood up in that assembly and de- 
clared, *'It will save the world/' 

Glorious vision of the man to whom the secrets 
of all ages were revealed ! Was it given to him to 
see the 6th of September, 1914, when Liberty in 
this generation was in the death struggle in Eu- 
rope and the life of his own great Republic 
across the seas hung in the balance? Do noble 
natures of separated centuries have communion? 
It has been said that it was an accident of fate 
that made the first victory of the Marne fall on 
the birthday of LaFayette. Should we not say it 
was a glorious coincidence ? Or, better still, that 
Marshal Joffre's victory was a providential and 
fitting celebration of the hundred and fifty-sev- 
enth birthday of Gilbert du Notier de LaFayette? 
We come now to another victory of the Marne, 
thankful for the genius of Foch, who wears 
worthily the mantle of LaFayette. And again, on 
LaFayette's birthday, victorious encounters by 
the allied armies in France bring us nearer to the 
success at arms which will mean to the whole 
world what Yorktown meant to the Western 
Hemisphere. There never was a darker day in 
the American revolution than when at George- 
town, S. C., January 13, 1777, LaFayette landed 
to ofTer his sword in the unequal struggle. In his 
memoirs he says when he arrived in America he 
vowed to win or die here in the cause of Liberty. 
All his dreams of what he would find in the new 
world were realized, and to his wife, whom he 

[233] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

called **Dear Heart/' he writes, "All citizens are 
brothers; the richest and the poorest are on the 
same social level/' and he described the American 
women as ''beautiful, unaffected in manner, and 
of a charming neatness/' Of Congress he asked 
only two favors, ''the one to serve without pay at 
my own expense, the other that I be allowed to 
serve at first as a volunteer/' His offer was ac- 
cepted, he was commissioned as a major general 
at the age of twenty, an age which some people 
think too young for men to be entrusted with mil- 
itary command. LaFayette was only eighteen 
when, a junior officer in the French Musketeers, 
dining with his commanders of the garrison at 
Metz, he heard the Duke of Gloucester, a brother 
but not a friend of King George III, tell the story 
of the fight for freedom in America. As he lis- 
tened, the heart of the eighteen-year-old boy 
spanned the Atlantic and he "enlisted" with all 
the enthusiasm and the faith of the Knights who 
went in quest of the Holy Grail. Every member 
of his family except his seventeen-year-old wife 
regarded his determination to aid America as a 
mad adventure. Let us pay tribute to the wis- 
dom of youth and never again bow down to the 
accepted superior judgment of age! LaFayette 
is the type of eternal youth. With years come 
prudence and caution and conventions which aid 
knowledge, but youth has the courage of its ideals, 
the audacity of its faith, and the readiness to risk 
all, even life itself, for liberty. All great wars 

[234] 



LAFAYETTE'S PROPHECY FULFILLED 

have been fought by what older people call ''mere 
boys." In the War between the States the vast 
majority of those who followed Grant and Lee 
were youths, hundreds of thousands under 21 
years of age, many of them under 18. There 
never were finer soldiers in all history. It was the 
dash and daring of youth that swept all before it 
in that mighty struggle, and it is the same spirit 
which to-day animates our armies fighting their 
way across the battle-scarred fields of France and 
which, with our allies, will eventually drive the 
last invader from the soil of LaFayette's beloved 
country. 

LaFayette knew that the heart of France was 
with America during the disheartening days that 
followed Valley Forge, just as all France knows 
the heart of America warmed toward France 
from the moment of its invasion. All the while he 
worked for an understanding between America 
and France. He was rewarded when the French 
fleet under DeGrasse and the French Army under 
Rochambeau (who with Portail and d'Estaing 
are honored as the four minor figures grouped be- 
lov/ or round the central figure of Marquis de 
LaFayette in the statue before us) gave Wash- 
ington the preponderance that compelled the sur- 
render of Cornwallis. In the year of alternate 
hope and fear, LaFayette and Rochambeau urged 
upon France the opportunity and duty of helping 
the colonists. Rochambeau wrote: ''Nothing 
without naval supremacy!'' He sent his son to 

[235] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

France to ask for more ships and Washington 
sent Henry Lawrence, saying: "This is our last 
chance; our country is exhausted, our force is 
nearly spent, the cause nearly lost. If France 
delays a timely and powerful aid in this critical 
posture of our affairs, it will avail us nothing 
should she attempt it hereafter/' 

In May, 1781, Rochambeau received a message 
saying: "It is impossible to send you troops, but 
a new fleet is being sent." Washington's army, 
passing Philadelphia on their march to the South, 
were entertained by LaLuzerne, the French min- 
ister. Abbe Robin, chaplain of the French troops, 
wrote: "We were scarcely seated when a courier 
was introduced. An anxious silence reigns among 
the guests ; all eyes are fixed on the Chevalier de 
La Luzerne; people try to guess what the news 
can be." He relieves their suspense and thrills 
them when he says: "Thirty-six ships of the line, 
under the command of Count de Grasse, are in 
Chesapeake Bay, and three thousand men have 
been landed and established communication with 
the Marquis de LaFayette." He fought the Brit- 
ish fleets and so damaged them that they put back 
to New York. Washington wrote to DeGrasse : 
"The honor of the surrender of York belongs to 
your Excellency." To Congress he said, "I wish 
it was in my power to express to Congress how 
much I feel myself indebted to the Count de 
Grasse and the officers of the fleet under his com- 
mand." Congress passed a resolution expressing 

[236] 



LAFAYETTE'S PROPHECY FULFILLED 

to DeGrasse 'The thanks of the United States 
for his display of skill and bravery in attacking 
and defeating the British fleet off the Bay of 
Chesapeake." The French navy and the French 
soldiers saved the day. 

When America entered the war, at the hour 
when the need of the Allies was sorest, history re- 
peated itself. In the first days we said, as France 
said to Rochambeau : "It is impossible to send you 
troops at once, but our Fleet is being sent." Naval 
vessels were dispatched at once to join the allied 
fleet and take part in the war against the subma- 
rine menace. It was a return of the visit of the 
French fleet that came into the Chesapeake in 
1783. The army, now numbering in France 
1,600,000, has been safely conveyed across the 
Atlantic, and with the men under arms from all 
the allied nations, will fulfill the prophecy of La- 
Fayette and "save the world." We will add to 
the million and a half already engaged as many 
more millions as may be needed, for all America 
has highly resolved that the brave men of this 
country and all the allied nations shall not have 
died in vain. And as the brave Americans em- 
bark, every one of them will recall that the inde- 
pendence we won in the Revolution was largely 
due to LaFayette and his patriotic countrymen. 

When Pershing reached France with the first 
American troops, he made a pious pilgrimage to 
the Picpus Cemetery in Paris, placed a wreath on 
the grave of LaFayette and simply said: "La- 

[237] 



THE NAVY AND TJIE NATION 

Fayette, nous voila (we are here)." And as the 
millions more will reach the shores of France, 
they will not pause from their grim determination 
to say much. The advances made steel our cour- 
age and confirm our faith. Deeds alone count. 
All that is necessary will be to invoke a double 
portion of the spirit of the knightly Marquis and 
say: "LaFayette, we are here!" 



[238] 



XXVI 

WILSON AND WILHELM — OPPOSING IDEALS 
CONTRASTED 

The Spirit and the faith of the two countries [Germany 
and America] could not be better contrasted than in the 
boastful claim of an irresponsible Emperor whose God is 
**the unconditional and avowed ally" of the nation 
that tramples upon His teachings, and the declara- 
tion of the true spokesman of American faith who 
invoked the favor of God for the people of his country 
"only if they rise to the clear heights of His own justice 
and mercy." 

Address to Class of 648 Reserve Ensigns, Naval 
Academy, Annapolis, Md., Sept. 18, ipi8. 

The attention of the world, in the past few 
days, has been centered upon four things: i. The 
victories of the allied forces, culminating in 
Pershing's advance and capture of prisoners; 2. 
The speech of the Kaiser at Essen ; 3. Germany's 
offer of a treaty of peace with Belgium ; 4. Aus- 
tria's suggestions of a conference of all the bel- 
ligerent nations for the purpose of exchanging 
views. These four incidents are not separate, but 
are closely related. The last three were inspired 
by the first. If the alHed forces had not won mil- 
itary victories, no such remarkable speech as Wil- 

[239] 



THE NAVY AND T^E NATION 

helm's made to the workers in Krupps would have 
been delivered, the tender to Belgium would not 
have been made, and the Austrian feeler for a 
talk-fest would not have been put forth. 

There is a lesson for us to-day in the sequence 
of these events. Military success is the only argu- 
ment that German militarists can now under- 
stand. When appeals are made to the solemnity 
of the plighted word, pleas for humanity are of- 
fered, arguments against the spirit of conquest 
presented — these fall upon ears that have been 
trained to deafness. The German war-lords 
never understood the utterances of the President 
when he declared for the rights of small nations, 
protested against the barbarity of the submarine 
slaughter of women and children, and demanded 
the freedom of the seas as the just right of all 
nations, great and small. It was never until his 
Baltimore address that they understood his lan- 
guage. 'Torce, force to the utmost,'' declared 
America's chosen spokesman on April 6th; 
"Force without stint or limit, the righteous and 
triumphant Force which shall make Right the 
law of the world and cast every selfish dominion 
down in the dust." They had some conception 
of what "Force to the limit" meant, for that has 
been the German method since it wantonly and 
in the lust for what belonged to others, began the 
war in 1914. 

But though they understood that language, 
they did not believe a Republic could organize an 

[240] 



OPPOSING IDEALS CONTRASTED 

effective force against a machine which autocracy 
had been creating with all its energy for half a 
century. They did not conceive that citizen-sol- 
diers, ,under capable leadership, could win battles 
with less than a generation of training or that 
they could fight successfully without a hymn of 
hate. They derided the value of the President's 
''force without stint or limit," and told their peo- 
ple that America had no army, and could not 
organize one to be serviceable in this war. When 
millions were under training, they declared: 
''They cannot be transported because America 
has not the ships." When the ships were forth- 
coming, American and British, they lulled the 
German people into a sense of false security by 
promising that their submarines would sink them. 
And when more than a million and a half soldiers 
were landed in France, they made light of this 
achievement of army and navy by saying that 
these youths without experience would be easy 
victims for their hardened veterans. Is it any 
wonder, after it began to sink into Germany that 
American troops were fit to fight and took their 
places as equals with the soldiers of allied nations, 
that for the first time in his history the German 
Emperor felt it necessary to hurry to the muni- 
tions plants and take a hand-primary of the work- 
ers and compel them to publicly promise to go on 
with their work for the fatherland ? That speech, 
not so much for what it said but because of the 
compulsion of making it, was the best proof that 

[241! 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

the German will to go on in a hopeless war is 
waning. 

Whenever an Emperor who believes he rules 
by divine right is forced to take a hand-primary 
of the toilers, you may be sure the timbers that up- 
hold autocracy and militarism are weakening and 
that he sees the need of strengthening their foun- 
dations. In that speech, making an earnest plea 
to the workers, to promise him, on behalf of Ger- 
man labor, "we intend to fight to the last," the 
Kaiser in one sentence gave utterance to the ir- 
reconcilable differences between the faiths of 
men who are ruled and men who rule themselves. 
He said: ''Each of us has received his appointed 
task from on high — you at your hammer, you at 
your lathe, and me upon the throne.'' It is a sad 
proof of the effectiveness of long indoctrination 
in error, that the men who, when told they were 
compelled all their lives to work at hammer and 
forge, accepted the state of vassalage and pledged 
their support. How many of them did so under 
compulsion? and how many because they accept 
without challenge the theory that ''some men are 
born booted and spurred to ride upon the backs 
of others, to the glory of God" ? These questions 
will be answered only after a victorious peace re- 
moves the ban upon the rights of men to think for 
themselves and speak their thoughts without fear. 

Germany accepts the creed that the Junkers 
were born booted and spurred to ride upon the 
backs of the people who were preordained to be 

[242] 



OPPOSING IDEALS CONTRASTED 

hewers of wood and drawers of water. America 
denies with the passion of freedom that from "on 
high" comes any appointed task at hammer or 
forge or throne, or that men are cribbed or con- 
fined in any sphere of action. We profoundly 
beHeve here that men are created equal and that 
doors of opportunity and advancement must open 
to all alike. We hold with Daniel Webster that 
''God grants liberty to those who love it and are 
always ready to guard and defend it." When 
America ceases to hold to that creed and fight 
for it, then this will no longer be America. And 
it is because the Prussian war-lords resolved to 
bestride the world and govern it in the spirit of 
the Kaiser's speech at Essen that America is in 
the war. Having entered to prevent the rule of 
the world by Force and Greed, the people of 
America will remain in the war until the dangers 
of conquest and oppression are ended, and peace 
is guaranteed by a League of Nations, with a 
navy powerful enough to enforce the enlightened 
decrees of an enlightened world. 

■*I left no stone unturned to shorten the war," 
said the Kaiser in that remarkable speech. He 
spoke truly when he said that. For more than a 
score of years he had been whetting his knife for 
the throat of peaceful neighbors. When the fav- 
orable hour came to strike he devastated Belgium 
and hastened toward Paris to despoil the French, 
fully expecting when that had been accomplished 
to turn swiftly upon Russia and make it a vassal 

[243] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

state. He *'left no stone unturned to shorten the 
war/' for his troops on land spared neither 
woman nor child, church nor home, and on sea 
his sailors gloated as they sent unarmed ships 
with non-combatants of both sexes of every age 
to their sepulcher of the deep. Let nobody ques- 
tion the truthfulness of the statement that he did 
all he could to shorten the war — for no Hun, no 
Attila, no medieval soldier sought his end by less 
consideration of those upon whom his soldiers 
trampled in their eagerness to "shorten the war" 
and fatten upon the fruits of the labor of the con- 
quered. 

He "left no stone unturned," but his efforts 
were unavailing. Why? Because he put his faith 
in a German-made God, as is shown in his address 
to the Army on the 226. of December, 1917: "The 
year 19 17, with its great battles, has proved that 
the German people have in the Lord of Creation 
alone an unconditional and avowed ally on whom 
it can absolutely rely." Why? Because, with 
reverence, President Wilson in his message to 
Congress a few days before, on December 4th, 
1917, said: "The hand of God is laid upon the 
nations. He will show them favor, I devoutly 
believe, only if they rise to the clear heights of 
His own justice and mercy." The spirit and the 
faith of the two countries could not be better 
contrasted than in the boastful claim of an irre- 
sponsible Emperor whose God is "the uncondi- 
tional and avowed ally" of the nation that 

[244] 



OPPOSING IDEALS CONTRASTED 

tramples upon His teachings, and the declaration 
of the true spokesman of American faith who in- 
voked the favor of God for the people of his 
country ''only if they rise to the clear heights of 
His own justice and mercy." 

The allied advances are alone responsible for 
the offer of peace to Belgium and the proposition 
of the Austrian Emperor for a conference. 
American courage on land and sea wrote the first 
notes of the peace offensive. Having failed of 
their objectives by brutal disregard of the humane 
standards of warfare, the German war lords and 
their associates start a peace drive. America 
longs, yearns, prays and fights for peace. It is 
the goal of all its purposes. When the free peo- 
ples of the world almost held their breath after 
the successful German drive in March, Lloyd 
George in speaking of the future said: ''It is a 
race between Wilson and Hindenburg,'* alluding 
to the need of large bodies of American troops to 
give the reserves needed for the blows recently 
struck. In that race Wilson has won ! 

President Wilson will "leave no stone un- 
turned" to secure the peace of righteousness and 
justice for which our soldiers and sailors are 
freely making the supreme sacrifice. Lloyd 
George, whose gift of illuminating expression is 
not the least of his talents, recently declared that 
the Germans could have peace any day they were 
ready to accept the terms stated by President Wil- 
son in his address before Congress, Tuesday, Jan- 

[245] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

uary 8, 191 8. Those terms are the terms only of 
justice and have in them nothing for the enrich- 
ment of America. The answer of President Wil- 
son to the Austrian note is direct and leaves noth- 
ing to be desired. That answer sent consterna- 
tion to those who want a peace ''made in Ger- 
many" and was a trumpet call to all who have 
highly resolved that the peace which the world 
needs can only come with abandonment of con- 
quest and acceptance of the rights alike of the 
weak and the powerful. The German war lords 
will not accept that peace now because they prefer 
the death of millions of their subjects, who had 
no will in bringing on the war and have no voice 
in their government, to an acceptance of the 
rights of the people to determine their own lives 
and the character of their Government. Their 
spirit was expressed by their Count in Belgium 
who said to Brand Whitlock: ''Freedom, it's not 
our way; and as for democracy — we want none 
of it.'' When the German ruler and people are 
ready to retire into their own territory and recog- 
nize that not a foot of land or a dollar of booty 
can be retained by conquest — when that moment 
arrives they will accept the just and moderate 
terms of President Wilson, approved by the Al- 
lies. Then peace, lasting peace, will smile upon 
the world. Nothing short of that will assure the 
goal for which we are fighting that the next gen- 
eration will be freed from the scourge of war or 
the alternative of submission to the conqueror. 

[246] 



OPPOSING IDEALS CONTRASTED 

In America, to quote Ibsen's phrase, ''there a 
free air blows over the people." Why should not 
this free air blow over the people of Belgium and 
Servia and Roumania ? Why should the Czecho- 
slovaks, the Poles and other subject peoples stifle 
when this free air would give them life and hope 
and national glory ? Why indeed should Germans 
breathe the foul air of autocracy when if a free 
air could blow over them their brains would be 
clear to rise superior to the miasma of militarism? 

What is our ideal of war and how does it com- 
pare with the ideals of Prussianism? The two 
men who speak for the opposing ideals have left 
us nothing of conjecture. The Prussian ideal has 
been seen in the plunging of the world into war 
with no excuse except the greed for world domin- 
ion and in the ruthless deeds of German soldiers. 
But we find it not only in deeds but as well in 
explicit words. Speaking to his troops embarking 
for China, July 27th, 1900, the German Kaiser 
said: ''When you face the enemy he will be beat- 
en ! No quarter will be given ! No prisoners will 
be taken ! Whoever falls into your hands, let him 
be at your mercy ! Just as the Huns a thousand 
years ago, under their King Attila, gained a repu- 
tation in virtue of which they still appear mighty 
in tradition and story, so may the name German 
be established by you in such a manner that for a 
thousand years no Chinaman will ever dare to 
look askance at a German." 

Speaking to the National Army last year Presi- 
[247] 



THE NAVY AND TJIE NATION 

dent Wilson gave the American ideal of war in 
his counsel to the young men going abroad to 
join the armies fighting for freedom. Mark the 
contrast between the counsel given by the German 
Emperor and the American President. Mr. Wil- 
son said: 

"You are undertaking a great duty. The 
heart of the whole country is with you. The 
eyes of all the world will be upon you, because 
you are in some special sense the soldiers of free- 
dom. Let it be your pride, therefore, to show all 
men everywhere not only what good soldiers you 
are, but also what good men you are, keeping 
yourselves fit and straight in everything and 
pure and clean through and through. 

*'Let us set for ourselves a standard so high 
that it will be a glory to live up to it, and then let 
us live up to it, and add a new laurel to the crown 
of America. My affectionate confidence goes 
with you in every battle and every test. God 
keep and guide you !" 



[248] 



XXVII 



WEALTH ENLISTED IN THE NATION'S SERVICE 



You have enabled America to give to the world a new 
conception of finance. You have taught the other na- 
tions that the American's idea of his money, like his idea 
of his life, is something which is to be freely and un- 
grudgingly given for his ideals and his country whenever 
his country calls. 

American Bankers' Association, Chicago, September 
27, IQI8. 

You have, all of you, as individuals, as mem- 
bers of associations and patriotic bodies expressed 
your pride and appreciation of the magnificent 
achievements of our armies and our soldiers; our 
navy and its sailors; our manufacturers and their 
factories ; our workmen and their industry. You 
have all given unstinted and unselfish praise for 
the splendid way they have met the tremendous 
problems of this fearful war. 

I am here to express to you, speaking for our 
Government; speaking for the citizens of our 
country; and, I can add, speaking for the Allied 
World at large, to tell you of our appreciation of 
the splendid achievements and unselfish patriot- 
ism, of the efficient efforts shown by the bankers 
of America; to let you feel that we realize what 

[249] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

you have done, what you are doing, and what you 
will do towards the winning of this war; that we 
feel that you, by your abundant labors and gener- 
ous contributions to provide the funds for fight- 
ing men and to benevolent objects, have given the 
lie to the sneers and taunts of our adversaries 
that we are a mere nation of money-makers, inter- 
ested only in profits. We have proved that so ob- 
viously, so absurdly and patently false as to cause 
the most rabid of Prussians to drop as an useless 
and obviously absurd libel their whole campaign 
of belittlement of our national aims and motives. 

The country is proud of you. You have shown 
the world that when your country calls, our bank- 
ers, like our soldiers and our sailors, have forgot- 
ten all selfish interests, all class interests, all inter- 
ests of every kind, and with no thought of per- 
sonal advantage or disadvantage, have set out to 
help win this war as best they can. And if we 
are proud of the spirit in which you have done 
this, we are no less proud of the splendid intelli- 
gence and the magnificent business efficiency with 
which you have translated your willingness to 
serve into actual efficient service, the magnitude 
of which cannot be overstated. 

We are now well into the second year of our 
participation in this war. We are spending more 
money in a day than we spent at one time in a 
year. We are asking you and our people for bil- 
lions, many billions, at a time. We have diverted 
to war work much of our national industry, by 

[250] 



WEALTH ENLISTED IN SERVICE 

which money is normally accumulated by our 
people and yet you are able, to-day, to attend this 
convention with no fear of panics at home; with 
no anxious inquiries after possible telegrams of 
financial troubles at the hotel desk ; with balance 
sheets of actual profits more satisfactory than 
they have ever been before ; as undisturbed, as un- 
afraid as if we were in the middle of the ''piping" 
times of peace. Think of it. You have paid out 
over your counters already over six billion dol- 
lars for Liberty Bonds, out of the total of nine 
billion nine hundred and seventy-five millions al- 
loted, and yet your resources, instead of shrink- 
ing, have grown in the year preceding last May, 
from sixteen billion, one hundred forty-four 
thousand to eighteen billion, two hundred forty- 
nine, an actual increase of more than two billion 
dollars; and the Controller of the Currency re- 
ports that the total resources of the national banks 
of our country at this date exceed by more than 
one billion dollars the whole world's production 
of gold from the discovery of America in 1492 up 
to the year 1917. 

More wonderful than all, perhaps, is the fact 
that during the year 19 18 not a single national 
bank has failed — a record equaled only in 1881, 
since 1870 — and during the past year one hun- 
dred and six new charters for national banks have 
been asked for, representing a capital of nine bil- 
lion dollars more. 

Figures are tiresome things. They are popu- 

[251] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

larly supposed to be utterly incompatible with ro- 
mance or imagination, but surely these figures 
stand out clothed with as vivid picturesqueness as 
any word picture of the struggle at the front. 
While our soldiers and our sailors have carried 
forward our colors and kept us magnificently at 
war at the front, you gentlemen, with equal pa- 
triotism, have kept us, financially, magnificently 
at peace at home. For this we thank you. 

None know better than we at Washington the 
value of your services or how impossible our 
achievements abroad would have been but for 
your help here. If we have given to the world a 
new conception of Democracy, a democracy that 
is real and virile and sincere and not a mere hypo- 
critical cant of politicians and diplomats, but a 
Democracy that believes in democracy, you have 
on your part enabled America to give the world 
a new conception of finance, as unselfish, as patri- 
otic, as broad and far-seeing, as pledged to the 
common cause of humanity as any of our other 
beliefs or actions, as perfectly fitting into the gen- 
eral example we have set of the same spirit which 
inspired our forefathers in the creation of this 
republic as any other things we have done or said 
since this conflict began. You have taught the 
other nations that the American's idea of his 
money, like his idea of his life, is something 
which is to be freely and ungrudgingly given for 
his ideals and his country whenever his country 
calls. 

[252] 



WEALTH ENLISTED IN SERVICE 

I have spoken, incidentally, of your own pros- 
perous condition. It is pleasant to think that vir- 
tue is not always its only reward, that in help- 
ing your country, I think, perhaps, you help 
yourselves. It is the silver lining to our present 
clouds, just as our boys will come back stronger, 
better, more efficient men than they went forth; 
just as our manufacturers have learned many 
things which will make them far more efficient 
as manufacturers than before the war began, 
just as the whole country will be a stronger, more 
efficient country than it ever was before, so have 
you bankers learned by actual experience that in 
sacrificing much to your country, you have found 
increased ways of efficiency by which you may 
also help yourselves. 

We are now starting another Liberty Loan. 
We are relying with the absolute confidence which 
comes from past experience upon you bankers to 
make it an even greater success than those which 
have preceded. Splendidly have you met our 
calls for aid in the past, even more splendidly 
will you meet our call of the present. It is 
through you that our greatest subscriptions have 
come ; it is through your efforts that our greatest 
subscriptions must come. We have no fear, nor 
do we even feel that we are obliged to use any 
special efforts to arouse you to even greater ef- 
forts in the future. I do not intend to attempt 
to spur you on in this coming campaign because I 
know you need no spurring. I am trying merely 

[253] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

to let you feel that what you have done has been 
appreciated and will be appreciated ; to express to 
you so far as I can the feeUng of pride, the feel- 
ing of gratitude which the whole country shares 
with me in regard to the bankers of America. 

Back of all the pride and pomp of war, behind 
the roar of guns and the shouting armies, with no 
Legions of Honor, or Victoria Crosses dangling 
in front of their eyes as glittering awards, must 
sit in their quiet counting houses the controllers 
of the world's finances, and through anxious 
hours and sleepless nights must they provide 
ways and means by which the guns and armies 
may move forward to the front. In this silent, 
unpicturesque, unheroic struggle, which is really 
our first line of defense, we are now preparing a 
forward movement in force ; we are at the begin- 
ning of this Loan Campaign, going over our ac- 
couterments, testing our ammunition, preparing, 
as it were, a sort of general charge. I have not 
the slightest doubt but what at the very head of 
all the soldiers in this assault, we will see, as 
heretofore, our bankers, the first "over the top." 

Fortunately, before the strain upon our re- 
sources in financing this expensive war, the Fed- 
eral Reserve Act had become a law and was in 
successful operation. If this system had not been 
created prior to our entrance into the war, the 
first duty of Government would have been to pro- 
vide the facilities for buttressing our financial 
buildings by its prompt enactment. It is the out- 

[254] 



WEALTH ENLISTED IN SERVICE 

standing creative constructive act of this genera- 
tion, the perfect product of the study of the needs 
of a sound American financial policy. Before 
that measure stabilized our financial and banking 
system, periodical panics wrought destruction 
when there was heavy drain upon our resources, 
but since the Federal Reserve Act made national 
wealth instantly available to protect national 
credit, there has been no hint of panic or financial 
disturbance to give apprehension to business men. 
Instead, it has given confidence, promoted enter- 
prise and expansion, and been a foundation of 
rock upon which we have builded trade and man- 
ufacturing expansion unprecedented in history. 
It has enabled, without a jar or creaking of the 
splendid machines, the financing of this war, 
which calls for many billions. For years, before 
the Federal Reserve law was devised, the wisest 
men among us had pointed out the defects of our 
out-grown financial system to afford elasticity 
and confidence necessary to business, but differ- 
ences of opinion had delayed action. All honor 
to the wise men who drafted the Federal Re- 
serve law ; all honor to the men who had the wis- 
dom to put it on the statute books, all honor to 
those charged with its operation and success! 
From the day the President signed that epoch- 
making measure and the Secretary of the Treas- 
ury successfully launched it, the cooperation 
and assistance and wise counsel of the bankers of 
America has been hearty, sincere and complete. 

[255] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

Without such wise and helpful cooperation by 
the financial leaders in every part of the country 
the system would not have translated the statute 
into the living fountain from which confidence 
and assurance have sprung to safeguard Ameri- 
can prosperity. Financial disturbances of other 
days which hung so often like a pall upon the en- 
terprise and expansion of American industry were 
dissipated by this measure and its wise operation. 

The whole world recognizes the soundness of 
our system. A typical expression of approval was 
voiced by Sir Edward H. Holden of the London 
City and Midland Bank of London, England, who 
said: *The United States has built up a banking 
system which surpasses in strength and excel- 
lence any other banking system in the world." 

Democracy in financing this war has illus- 
trated its firm hold upon our country. In other 
wars, when large loans were to be placed, a few 
great bankers were relied upon by the Govern- 
ment to act as its fiduciary agents. Sometimes, 
a single great banker floated loans, securing, of 
course, the cooperation of others. In this day, 
when billions rather than millions were needed, 
the Government looked with confidence to all the 
banks to take the laboring oar, and in metropolis 
and hamlet, they have safely navigated three 
Liberty Loans, and to-night have launched the 
ship that they will steer safely into harbor carry- 
ing with it six billion dollars and the pledge of as 
much more as may be needed to win the war. 

[256] 



XXVIII 

THE RETURN TO THE PROMISED LAND 

The liberation of Palestine, the beginning of the 
Hebrew University at Jerusalem, bears a promise of 
spiritual re-birth — not merely the re-birth of the Jewish 
people, but of the whole Orient . . . the birth of new 
ideals, of new ethical values, of new conceptions of so- 
cial justice which shall spring as a blessing for all man- 
kind from that land and that people whose law-givers 
and prophets and sages, in ancient days spoke those 
truths which have come thundering down the ages, and 
which form the fabric and foundation of modern civili- 
zation. 

Zionist Patriotic Demonstration to celebrate the Vic- 
tory of the Allied Armies in Palestine and President 
Wilson's statement Approving the Aims of the Zionist 
Organisation, New York, September ^p, ipi8. 

It was overkind on the part of Judge Mack, 
and, I am tempted to say, an exaggeration of the 
very small part I played in the matter, when, in 
his gracious allusion to the service rendered in 
the Spring of 1915 by the United States, through 
their navy, to the Jewish people, he has thought 
fit to award to me the credit for an act which was 
participated in joyfully by the whole American 
people. The more so, because in dispatching the 
Vulcan to Palestine with a cargo of food sup- 

[257] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

plies, we are bringing succor to a people who 
had become victims of the war, not because of 
any fault of their own, not even because, like the 
people of outraged Belgium, they happened to 
be standing in the path which the monster Prus- 
sian chose to tread in order to win a speedy vic- 
tory in his foul design to conquer Europe, to con- 
quer, indeed, the whole world. 

The Jews of Palestine seemed remote from the 
theater of war. Only those who might have been 
in the confidence of Wilhelmstrasse could have 
imagined that eventually that land would be 
drawn in, and would become one of the most glo- 
rious scenes in the universal war-theater. Allenby 
was to come later ; but that was still on the knees 
of the gods. But, with the outbreak of the war, 
Palestine was besieged and blockaded. All roads, 
over land or sea, leading from it to civilization 
were suddenly closed, and its people destined, so 
it seemed, to speedy annihilation from hunger 
and disease. The civilized world, which had 
rushed to the rescue of Belgium, was dismayed 
by this impending tragedy — the imminent doom 
of a people who, inspired by love of that land 
which in days of yore had been their very own, 
had returned thither, to build anew somewhat of 
its ancient glories, and, amidst hallowed mem- 
ories, to find peace and the privilege of self-ex- 
pression. 

Palestine, for all times the beloved of the three 
great religions, the cradle of liberty and civili- 

[258] 



RETURN TO THE PROMISED LAND 

zation, had just begun to emerge from the pages 
of history and to take its new place in the 
thoughts of forward-looking men and women. 
The wonderful story of the Jewish pioneers who, 
out of the swamp and the desert, in the face of 
death by withering heat and savage marauders, 
had built up half a hundred colonies, had begun 
the development of a new Jewish culture based 
on what was best of the ancient Hebrew culture, 
plus the Jewish experiences of the past two thou- 
sand years — this Palestine, to which the whole 
world was beginning to look with sympathy and 
enthusiasm, was apparently about to become the 
grave of the noblest effort in which a people could 
be engaged. 

To America, which has found inspiration in 
the ancient Hebraic ideals, in the ethical prin- 
ciples of the ancient Hebrew lawgiver and the 
Hebrew prophets, the peril confronting Palestine 
caused the greatest pain. And I knew that the 
American people would gladly do whatever might 
lie in their power to rescue it from the disaster 
to v/hich it seemed about to succumb. 

At the same time, let me now record my keen 
disappointment that circumstances soon shaped 
themselves so as to make it impossible for me to 
realize the fond hope I entertained at that time, 
and which I often expressed to your representa- 
tives who came to see me so frequently during the 
days of preparation for the Vnlcans relief- 
mission, that her trip would not be an isolated 

[259] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

one. But if this hope was to remain unrealized, 
yet it became possible to use the United States 
Navy for another demonstration of friendship 
for the Jews of Palestine. Quite providentially 
the Cruiser Tennessee was in Mediterranean 
waters when the Turkish government decreed the 
banishment of some 8,000 Jews who had refused 
to become Ottoman subjects. Who knows what 
would have been the fate of these brave men 
and women, who dared the wrath that their 
staunch refusal had aroused, if Captain Decker, 
hardly waiting for approval of his plan, had not 
rushed to Jaffa and, transforming his cruiser into 
a ferry-boat, made a half-dozen trips to Alexan- 
dria and back, until every man, woman and child 
who wished to go had found safety? 

If, by virtue of the accidental fact that I hap- 
pened to be the Secretary of the Navy, these acts 
came under my jurisdiction, it does not seem to 
me that I need be made the object of words of 
praise and gratitude. Rather, it is I who should 
express gratitude to the kind fates that made it 
possible for me to be the instrument through 
which the American people acted. And it is a 
pleasant memory to me that I had the privilege of 
taking the official steps in the first concrete acts 
whereby Americans indicated their thorough 
sympathy with and approval of the efforts to es- 
tablish, in Palestine, a national homeland for the 
Jewish people. 

But if in your judgment some one must be 
[260] 



RETURN TO THE PROMISED LAND 

found to whom credit for these acts must be giv- 
en, it is not to me it should be tendered, but to 
that defender of the rights of the smaller nation- 
alities to lead their own lives and develop, un- 
hindered, their own culture, to that man who has 
put the seal of American approval on the Zion- 
ist movement, to the world-leader and President 
— Woodrow Wilson! 

Let my presence here to-night testify to my 
great pleasure that President Wilson has finally 
uttered the word that you have been waiting so 
long, so eagerly to hear, the word which by your 
sacrifices, by your devotion to your history and 
traditions, by your staunchness to the cause of 
humanity, by your loyalty to the cause of Amer- 
ica and its associates in this war, you have so well 
deserved to hear. President Wilson in his letter 
to that splendid Airierican, Rabbi Wise, spoke for 
the whole American people when he expressed his 
satisfaction with the progress of the Zionist 
movement in this and in allied countries. And it 
is characteristic of the man, of his thoughtful- 
ness and his delicacy of feeling, that he timed his 
message of approval with the advent of the Jew- 
ish New Year. Thus he, speaking for all of us, 
for the whole American people, expressed our 
hope that this new year which has just begun for 
you should bring to you that greatest happiness 
for which you have prayed during the centuries : 
the end of your homelessness, the beginning of a 
new life for the Jews as one of the great family 

[261] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

of free, enlightened and enlightening peoples. 

It was with this same delicacy of feeling, that 
rare and keen perception of the higher values of 
human endeavor, that President Wilson predi- 
cated his letter on the fine achievements of the 
Weisman Commission, with especial reference 
to the laying of the corner-stone of the Hebrew 
University on the Mount of Olives when he 
wrote : ''I think that all Americans will be deeply 
moved by the report that even in this time of 
stress the Weisman commission has been able to 
lay the foundation of the Hebrew University at 
Jerusalem with the promise that bears of spiritual 
rebirth." 

The beginning of the Hebrew University bears 
a promise of spiritual rebirth — not merely the 
spiritual rebirth of the Jewish people, but of the 
whole Orient. I recall the visionings of Sir Mark 
Sykes at the great demonstration in London fol- 
lowing the Balfour declaration, when, prophesy- 
ing for the near future, he saw a new entente, 
a new United States of the Near East, composed 
of the Arabs, the Armenians and the Jews, com- 
bining to give to the Orient a new culture, a new 
civilization, and making of it a guarantor of 
world-peace. And not only the spiritual rebirth 
of the Orient, but the birth of new ideals, of new 
ethical values, of new conceptions of social jus- 
tice which shall spring as a blessing for all man- 
kind from that land and that people whose law- 
givers and prophets and sages, in ancient days, 

[262] 



RETURN TO THE PROMISED LAND 

spoke those truths which have come thundering 
down the ages, and which form the fabric and 
the foundation of modern civilization. Who 
knows but what in modern Judea, whose every 
hill and valley rings with the imperishable utter- 
ances of an Isaiah and a Jeremiah, of a Micah 
and an Amos, there may not be born some new 
truth to bless the world and lead mankind to even 
greater heights than it has already attained. 

And now Palestine is liberated! The brave 
troops of our noble ally, Great Britain, have 
swept the country clean of the foe. The sweep- 
ing victory of General Allenby has finally cleared 
the way for you to go on with the great work 
which you have undertaken — the establishment 
in Palestine of a National Jewish Homeland. 
The full significance of the words uttered on 
November 2nd last by the Rt. Hon. Arthur J. 
Balfour, British Foreign Secretary, and now so 
nobly echoed by President Wilson — "that the 
British Government will use its best endeavors to 
facilitate the achievement of that object" — is 
daily becoming clearer. England has not been 
sparing of its blood for the sake of redeeming its 
pledge to right the historic wrong that the world 
has meted out to the Jewish people. Our other 
allies, France and Italy and Serbia and Greece, 
have approved and endorsed the pledge by Great 
Britain, and when this war ends and the peace 
council meets, you may be sure that America, de- 
fender of the weak and the oppressed, will be as 

[263] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

outspoken in the Jewish behalf as have been any 
of our allies. 

Now the opportunity is yours. It is for you to 
establish the homeland you dream of. The na- 
tions of the world can do no more than give you 
leave, then guarantee to you that your efforts 
shall not be in vain. But the effort must be 
yours. The liberation of Palestine is the sum- 
mons to you to go to work and build well and 
nobly. So you have begun. Your colonies, your 
urban settlements, your financial institutions, 
your educational system, your university, your 
fine attitude toward your neighbors, these are 
noble beginnings, and upon them I am sure you 
will rear a structure which will be a blessing for- 
ever to you and all mankind. 

But your hopes for a national future, and the 
hopes of the other smaller nationalities, as well 
as of all forward-looking humanity will be in 
vain, will be crushed beyond resurrection, unless 
America and its allies are victorious. By the 
blood of our martyrs and heroes let us dedicate 
ourselves anew to the cause which means so much 
to all of us. Not until Germany has been utterly 
defeated, not until the brutal Prussians, the Ho- 
henzollerns and Hindenburgs and Ludendorffs 
and Von Tirpitzes, have been humbled in the 
sight of God and man, and sue for a peace that 
shall be made in Germany but not by the Ger- 
mans, not until then shall we pause. 

We are summoned to give of ourselves and of 

[264] 



RETURN TO THE PROMISED LAND 

our treasure, to pledge our lives, our sacred honor 
and our fortunes to this cause. And in the vic- 
tory of the forces of freedom, to which you have 
contributed so many thousands of men and so 
many millions of money, you, like the rest of hu- 
manity, will attain your highest dreams and real- 
ize your highest hopes. 



[265] 



XXIX 

A PEACE OF JUSTICE, NOT REVENGE 

We have won the Great War. Let us now proceed to 
win the Greater Peace. 

This European Revolution has ushered in a new 
world. It must somehow be made a world of justice 
and opportunity to all classes of men, and from it must 
somehow be obliterated the temptations and ambitions 
that prove and cause aggression and war. 

Community Thanksgiving Service, Buffalo, N. Y., No- 
vember 28, ipi8. 

We are here to-day to render thanks to the God 
of Nations for the widest victory ever achieved 
by the forces of freedom; to take counsel how a 
peace won by so much valor and sacrifice may 
long endure ; to acclaim with our spirits the brave 
dead who lie under the white crosses on the plains 
of France and Flanders, and those who found 
sepulcher under the sea. 

There pass, too, before our minds the stark 
heroism of the Belgians, preferring annihilation 
to dishonor; the flaming patriotism and valor of 
France; the constancy and might of Great Brit- 
ain; the steadfastness of Italy, whom the storm 
could batter but could not break ; the heroism and 
contributions of Japan and Serbia and Roumania 

[266] 



A PEACE OF JUSTICE, NOT REVENGE 

and Greece and Portugal; the sympathies of our 
loyal neighbors of Latin- America and the glori- 
ous purpose to be free of the great Jewish and 
Slavic peoples fighting to emancipate themselves 
from centuries of bondage and shackles. Thanks 
be to God, as our great President so simply said, 
"the war thus comes to an end." It is almost a 
platitude to characterize it as the costliest, crud- 
est, fiercest struggle of modern history, perhaps 
of all time; involving twenty-eight nations, de- 
stroying two hundred billions of treasure, sacri- 
ficing ten millions of lives, wounding twenty mil- 
lions and bringing loss and suffering to every 
land and people. 

It is now as clear as crystal how this war be- 
gan. A great nation strong in physical force and 
organizing genius ruled by an irresponsible auto- 
cratic government deliberately willed this war as 
a means of enlarging its territory and widening 
its dominion. It was a nation that had thriven 
by war as a national industry and its leaders had 
reached the mad conclusion that its destiny was 
world-power or downfall, and that all laws inter- 
national or moral were subservient to this grand- 
iose purpose. Relying upon the unmilitary organ- 
ization of democracy, this nation, armed to the 
teeth, sprang upon the world with the intent of 
forcing upon mankind its peculiar system of life, 
political, social and economic. To these masters of 
German policy "democracy w^as a thing infirm 
of purpose, jealous, timid, changeable, unthor- 

[267] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

ough, without foresight, blundering along in an 
age of lucidity guided by confused instincts/' 
To them the supreme human conception was not 
religion, nor love, nor God, but the State organ- 
ized for power, and the supreme social duty was 
obedience to that power. And so, once more in 
the great human story the issue was made up 
between contrasting civilizations, between ideals 
and institutions, between freedom and force. 

It has been a long dark night through which 
the world has passed. This war soon showed it- 
self to be a war not of dynasties but of whole 
peoples, a war of systems, not of armies alone, 
a war between Christian civilization and a creed 
of tribal gods. Never before in human affairs 
has the issue been so clearly drawn between the 
force that is called moral and the force that is 
merely physical or unmoral, and we are thanking 
God to-day that His divine law of morality is the 
sign in the heavens by which we have conquered 
and shall conquer. The time had apparently 
come in the affairs of men when the decision 
must be made between democracy and autocracy 
as the ruling and guiding principle in the social 
order. And democracy, that divine gospel which 
Christ taught, has won. The theory that every 
man in the world, high or low, rich or poor, shall 
have a chance to make the most of himself is now 
the fixed philosophy of all nations; and never 
again, I venture to assert, will the false philoso- 
phy that men exist to serve a state ruled despot- 

[268] 



A PEACE OF JUSTICE, NOT REVENGE 

ically drag great peoples to their doom. There 
have been wars Hke the upheaval of the Reforma- 
tion that won for mankind freedom of conscience; 
like the French Revolution that gained for 
men political liberty; like the American Revo- 
lution that won national independence. This 
war, colossal in all its aspects, has been a war of 
liberation not alone for the settled governments 
and empires whose systems of life were threat- 
ened but for the submerged races who have lived 
for ages under alien control but who shall now 
have the chance to determine their lives and fix 
their destinies by their own wisdom and their 
own choice. What has happened during this fate- 
ful autumn baffles the imagination and almost 
confounds the comprehension of the mind of 
man. We have seen the myth of Teutonic mili- 
tary invincibility exploded, the empire of Bis- 
marck dissolved, and a Socialist harness-maker 
seated in the chair of the Iron Chancellor. The 
Austrian mosaic has disintegrated, Turkey and 
Bulgaria are broken to pieces. New nations have 
sprung into life and ancient kingdoms like Poland 
are reshaping themselves in forms of freedom. 
The Hohenzollerns and the Hapsburgs, if they 
have not literally followed Henry Watterson's 
injunction, have scurried as unwelcome guests 
into foreign asylums. The gray ships of Great 
Britain and other allied nations receive the sur- 
render of the navy of the proud empire whose 
future their emperor declared to be on the 

[269] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

water. France — glorious, immortal France — 
has rewon the love of the world and established 
itself in a glory before which its Napoleonic 
grandeur fades, and American soldiers with as 
fine motives as ever influenced an old crusader, 
with no selfish ends in view, no territory to win, 
no glory to gain save the glory of freedom de- 
fended, stand, triumphant but unstained by hate 
or rapine, at the passes of the Rhine. I can ac- 
count for the almost unbelievable completeness 
of this vast victory only on the ground that Al- 
mighty God, knowing that this issue was between 
everlasting right and everlasting wrong, threw 
into the scales His omnipotent weight and en- 
dowed the soldiers and sailors of freedom with 
power to prevail. 

I do not need to tell such a company as this that 
our country did not lightly enter this war. Its 
traditions and ideals were against foreign en- 
tanglements. Its preoccupation was peace. Its 
President was a man of ideals but also of prac- 
tical world vision. He loved peace but only a 
peace that left national honor and national sov- 
ereignty unviolated. Germany's masters left us 
no choice. It was war or dishonor and menace to 
our liberties. And so we chose war, and though 
it has not been ours to tread the long, rough road 
of our heroic Allies, we got there in time and we 
got there in force and our sacrifices have known 
no stint or limit. Our men on land and sea have 
put a new glory on the flag we love. The home 

[270] 



A PEACE OF JUSTICE, NOT REVENGE 

front has stood like a rock behind its fighting 
forces, and it is my judgment that unbiased his- 
tory will record that no government ever put 
forth a mightier and more fruitful effort than the 
United States of America under the leadership 
of Woodrow Wilson in the one year and seven 
months of its participation in the World War of 
1914-1918. 

And so I think I may properly claim that the 
free peoples of the world by the might of great 
fortitude and resourcefulness and courage have 
indeed made the world safe for democracy in the 
sense that it has proved that democracy is not 
an optimistic dream, but a concrete force able 
to protect itself against tyranny and aggres- 
sion and powerful enough to substitute as nation- 
al ideals its tenets of freedom and opportunity as 
opposed to those of personal government and 
despotic force. 

It now remains to make democracy safe for 
the world by defining its ends, clarifying its pur- 
poses, and enacting into law its essential ideals. 
And herein lies the path to just, honorable, and 
enduring peace. We have won the Great War. 
Let us now proceed to win the Greater Peace. 
As Abraham Lincoln nobly said in his second In- 
augural : "Let us strive on to finish the work we 
are in ; to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for 
him who shall have borne the battle, and for his 
widow and his orphan — to do all which mav 

[271] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

achieve a just and lasting peace among ourselves 
and all nations." 

This European Revolution has ushered in a 
new world. It must somehow be made a world of 
justice and opportunity to all classes of men and 
from it must somehow be obliterated the tempta- 
tions and ambitions that provoke and cause ag- 
gression and war. There is first and foremost, 
the domestic situation most intimately touching 
us all, which has for its problems the right edu- 
cation of the people, for if you do not educate a 
democracy you will soon have no democracy to 
educate; the just rewards and opportunities of 
labor, protection to the weak as truly as we pro- 
tect the strong, fair systems of taxation, and the 
maintenance of such establishments of force as 
will guarantee freedom without suggesting any 
monstrous form of democratic imperialism. 
There is, secondly, the world situation soon to 
be considered in a World Congress which has for 
its problem the building of a new European civ- 
ilization based on justice and self-determination. 
The least of its problems will be the mere settle- 
ment with Germany. It is true that Germany 
lies before the Congress, broken in her pride and 
suffering a humiliation due to her folly unex- 
ampled in modern history. She must be dealt 
with firmly, for the sins of her rulers and all who 
followed their spirit are black and bitter, and her 
crimes deserve such treatment and such punish- 
ment as will protect the future. But no policy of 

[272] 



A PEACE OF JUSTICE, NOT REVENGE 

hatred, no spirit of vengeance, should guide this 
world renewal. The protection of women and 
children knows no friends and no enemies. The 
rebirth of modern civilization should not go for- 
ward under any spell of mere revenge or malice 
to millions of men. Principle and justice, touched 
with mercy to the weak, should guide this Con- 
gress, not passion or emotion. 

One hundred and five years ago the Napoleonic 
world lay in ruins. The Congress of Vienna met 
to compose and readjust the nations. Brilliant 
men constituted its membership, but it lives in 
history as the meanest and unworthiest assem- 
blage of men who ever undertook a mighty task, 
and in its sordid decisions lay the seeds of this 
great struggle through which we have just 
passed. It, too, had a principle of guidance and 
stuck to it to the bitter end. Monarchy, the 
divine right of rulers, men and nations as pawns 
in a gigantic "swap" or trade informed its coun- 
cils. Let us thank God on this ancient festival 
day that the principle of the Congress of Paris 
will be the rights and welfare of all peoples how- 
ever small or however great, the eternal political 
truth that all governments derive their just pow- 
ers from the consent of the governed and the 
faith that the free peoples of the earth, especially 
those great nations which have welded their 
friendship into everlasting sympathy and under- 
standing in the fires of common sacrifice and 
struggle, are ripe enough in political wisdom and 

[273] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

sound enough of heart to form a Federation of 
Justice which shall be able to ensure progress and 
guarantee freedom among all men throughout 
the world. 



[274] 



XXX 

THE MARINES AT CHATEAU-THIERRY 

More than faithful in every emergency, accepting hard- 
ships with admirable morale, proud of the honor of tak- 
ing their place as shock troops for the American legions, 
they have fulfilled every glorious tradition of their corps, 
and they have given to the world a list of heroes whose 
names will go down to all history. 

Annual Report of the Secretary of the Navy, Decem- 
ber I, ipi8. 

That efficient fighting, building, and landing 
force of the Navy, the Marine Corps, has won 
imperishable glory in the fulfillment of its latest 
duties upon the battle-fields of France, where the 
Marines, fighting for the time under General 
Pershing as a part of the victorious American 
Army, have written a story of valor and sacrifice 
that will live in the brightest annals of the war. 
With heroism that nothing could daunt, the Ma- 
rine Corps played a vital role in stemming the 
German rush on Paris, and in later days aided in 
the beginning of the great offensive, the freeing 
of Rheims, and participated in the hard fighting 
in Champagne, which had as its object the throw- 
ing back of the Prussian armies in the vicinity of 
Cambrai and St. Quentin. 

[275] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

With only 8,000 men engaged in the fiercest 
battles, the Marine Corps casualties numbered 69 
officers and 1,531 enlisted men dead and 78 offi- 
cers and 2,435 enlisted men wounded seriously 
enough to be officially reported by cablegram, to 
which number should be added not a few whose 
wounds did not incapacitate them for further 
fighting. However, with a casualty list that 
numbers nearly half the original 8,000 men who 
entered battle, the official reports account for 
o^ly 57 United States Marines who have been 
captured by the enemy. This includes those who 
were wounded far in advance of their lines and 
who fell into the hands of Germans while unable 
to resist. 

Memorial Day shall henceforth have a greater, 
deeper significance for America, for it was on 
that day, May 30, 1918, that our country really 
received its first call to battle — the battle in which 
American troops had the honor of stopping the 
German drive on Paris, throwing back the Prus- 
sian hordes in attack after attack, and beginning 
the retreat which lasted until Imperial Germany 
was beaten to its knees and its emissaries appeal- 
ing for an armistice under the flag of truce. And 
to the United States marines, fighting side by side 
with equally brave and equally courageous men 
in the American Army, to that faithful sea and 
land force oi the Navy, fell the honor of taking 
over the lines where the blow of the Prussian 
would strike the hardest, the line that was near- 

[276] 



MARINES AT CHATEAU-THIERRY 

est Paris and where, should a breach occur, all 
would be lost. The world knows to-day that the 
United States Marines held that line; that they 
blocked the advance that was rolling on toward 
Paris at a rate of 6 or 7 miles a day; that they 
met the attack in American fashion and with 
American heroism; that Marines and soldiers of 
the American Army threw back the crack guard 
divisions of Germany, broke their advance, and 
then, attacking, drove them back in the beginning 
of a retreat that was not to end until the "cease 
firing" signal sounded for the end of the world's 
greatest war. 

It was on the evening of May 30, after a day 
dedicated to the memory of their comrades who 
had fallen in the training days and in the Verdun 
sector, that the Fifth and Sixth Regiments and 
the Sixth Machine Gun Battalion, United States 
Marines, each received the following orders : 

Advance information official received that this regi- 
ment will move at 10 p. m. 30 May by bus to new area. 
All trains shall be loaded at once and arrangements 
hastened. Wagons, when loaded, will move to Serans to 
form train. 

All through the night there was fevered activ- 
ity among the Marines. Then, the next morn- 
ing, the long trains of camions, busses, and 
trucks, each carrying its full complement of 
United States Marines, went forward on a road 
which at one place wound within less than 10 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

miles of Paris, toward Meaux and the fighting 
line. 

Through the town of Meaux went the long line 
of camions and to the village of Montriel-aux- 
Lions, less than 4 miles from the rapidly advanc- 
ing German line. On this trip the camions con- 
taining the Americans were the only traffic trav- 
eling in the direction of the Germans ; everything 
else was going the other way — refugees, old men 
and women, small children, riding on every con- 
ceivable conveyance, many trudging along the 
side of the road driving a cow or calf before 
them, all of them covered with the white dust 
which the camion caravan was whirling up as it 
rolled along; along that road only one organiza- 
tion was advancing, the United States Marines. 

At last, their destination reached early on the 
morning of June 2, they disembarked, stiff and 
tired after a journey of more than y2 miles, but 
as they formed their lines and marched onward in 
the direction of the line they were to hold they 
were determined and cheerful. That evening 
the first field message from the Fourth Brigade 
to Major General Omar Bundy, commanding the 
Second Division, went forward: 

Second Battalion, Sixth Marines, in line from Le 
Thiolet through Clarembauts Woods to Triangle to Lucy. 
Instructed to hold line. First Battalion, Sixth Marines, 
going into line from Lucy through Hill 142. Third Bat- 
talion in suport at La Voie du Chatel, which is also 
the post command of the Sixth Marines. Sixth ma- 
chine-gun battalion distributed at line. 

[278] 



MARINES AT CHATEAU-THIERRY 

Meanwhile the Fifth Regiment was moving 
into line, machine guns were advancing, and the 
artillery taking its position. That night the men 
and officers of the Marines slept in the open, 
many of them in a field that was green with un- 
harvested wheat, awaiting the time when they 
should be summoned to battle. The next day at 
5 o'clock, the afternoon of June 2, began the 
battle of Chateau-Thierry, with the Americans 
holding the line against the most vicious wedge 
of the German advance. 

The advance of the Germans was across a 
wheat field, driving at Hill 165 and advancing in 
smooth columns. The United States Marines, 
trained to keen observation upon the rifle range, 
nearly every one of them wearing a marksman's 
medal or better, that of the sharpshooter or ex- 
pert rifleman, did not wait for those gray-clad 
hordes to advance nearer. Calmly they set their 
sights and aimed with the same precision that 
they had shown upon the rifle ranges at Paris 
Island, Mare Island, and Quantico. Incessantly 
their rifles cracked, and with their fire came the 
support of the artillery. The machine-gun fire, 
incessant also, began to make its inroads upon the 
advancing forces. Closer and closer the shrapnel 
burst to its targets. Caught in a seething wave 
of machine-gun fire, of scattering shrapnel, of 
accurate rifle fire, the Germans found themselves 
in a position in which further advance could only 
mean absolute suicide. The Hnes hesitated. 

'■279] 
y 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

They stopped. They broke for cover, while the 
Marines raked the woods and ravines in which 
they had taken refuge with machine gun and rifle 
to prevent them making another attempt to ad- 
vance by infiltrating through. Above, a French 
airplane was checking up on the artillery fire. 
Surprised by the fact that men should deliberately 
set their sights, adjust their range, and then fire 
deliberately at an advancing foe, each man pick- 
ing his target, instead of firing merely in the di- 
rection of the enemy, the aviator signaled below 
"Bravo!" In the rear that word was echoed 
again and again. The German drive on Paris 
had been stopped. 

For the next few days the fighting took on the 
character of pushing forth outposts and deter- 
mining the strength of the enemy. Now, the 
fighting had changed. The Germans, mystified 
that they should have run against a stone wall of 
defense just when they believed that their ad- 
vance would be easiest, had halted, amazed ; then 
prepared to defend the positions they had won 
with all the stubbornness possible. In the black 
recesses of Belleau Wood the Germans had es- 
tablished nest after nest of machine guns. There 
in the jungle of matted underbrush, of vines, of 
heavy foliage, they had placed themselves in posi- 
tions they believed impregnable. And this meant 
that unless they could be routed, unless they 
could be thrown back, the breaking of the attack 
of June 2 would mean nothing. There would 

[280] 



MARINES AT CHATEAU-THIERRY 

come another drive and another. The battle of 
Chateau-Thierry was therefore not won and 
could not be won until Belleau Wood had been 
cleared of the enemy. 

It was June 6 that the attack of the American 
troops began against that wood and its adjacent 
surroundings, with the wood itself and the towns 
of Torcy and Bouresches forming the objec- 
tives. At 5 o'clock the attack came, and there be- 
gan the tremendous sacrifices which the Marine 
Corps gladly suffered that the German fighters 
might be thrown back. 

The Marines fought strictly according to 
American methods — a rush, a halt, a rush again, 
in four-wave formation, the rear waves taking 
over the work of those who had fallen before 
them, passing over the bodies of their dead com- 
rades and plunging ahead, until they, too, should 
be torn to bits. But behind those waves were 
more waves, and the attack went on. 

''Men fell like flies"; the expression is that of 
an officer writing from the field. Companies that 
had entered the battle 250 strong dwindled to 50 
and 60, with a sergeant in command ; but the at- 
tack did not falter. At 9.45 o'clock that night 
Bouresches was taken by Lieut. James F. Rob- 
ertson and twenty-odd men of his platoon; these 
soon were joined by two reenforcing platoons. 
Then came the enemy counter attacks, but the 
Marines held. 

In Belleau Wood the fighting had been literally 

[281] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

from tree to tree, stronghold to stronghold ; and 
it was a fight which must last for weeks before 
its accomplishment in victory. Belleau Wood 
was a jungle, its every rocky formation forming 
a German machine-gun nest, almost impossible to 
reach by artillery or grenade fire. There was 
only one way to wape out these nests — by the 
bayonet. And by this method were they wiped 
out, for United States Marines, bare chested, 
shouting their battle cry of ''E-e-e-e-e y-a-a-h-h-h 
yip!" charged straight into the murderous fire 
from those guns, and won! Out of the number 
that charged, in more than one instance, only one 
Vv^ould reach the stronghold. There, with his 
bayonet as his only weapon, he would either kill 
or capture the defenders of the nest, and then 
swinging the gun about in its position, turn it 
against the remaining German positions in the 
forest. Such was the character of the fighting in 
Belleau Wood; fighting which continued until 
July 6, w^hen after a short relief the invincible 
Americans finally were taken back to the rest 
billet for recuperation. 

In all the history of the Marine Corps there is 
no such battle as that one in Belleau Wood. 
Fighting day and night without relief, without 
sleep, often without water, and for days without 
hot rations, the Marines met and defeated the 
best divisions that Germany could throw into the 
line. Time after time officers seeing their lines 
cut to pieceSj seeing their men so dog tired that 

[282] 



MARINES AT CHATEAU-THIERRY 

they even fell asleep under shell fire, hearing 
their wounded calling for the water that they 
were unable to supply, seeing men fight on after 
they had been wounded and until they dropped 
unconscious; time after time officers seeing these 
things, believing that the very limit of human 
endurance had been reached, would send back 
messages to their post command that their men 
were exhausted. But in answer to this would 
come the word that the lines must hold, and if 
possible those lines must attack. And the lines 
obeyed. Without water, without food, without 
rest they went forward — and forward every time 
to victory. Companies had been so torn and 
lacerated by losses that they were hardly pla- 
toons; but they held their lines and advanced 
them. In more than one case companies lost 
every officer, leaving a sergeant and sometimes a 
corporal to command, and the advance continued. 
After 13 days in this inferno of fire a captured 
German officer told with his dying breath of a 
fresh division of Germans that was about to be 
thrown into the battle to attempt to wrest from 
the Marines that part of the wood they had 
gained. The Marines, who for days had been 
fighting only on their sheer nerve, who had been 
worn out from nights of sleeplessness, from lack 
of rations, from terrific shell and machine-gun 
fire, straightened their lines and prepared for the 
attack. It came — as the dying German officer 
had predicted. 

[283] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

At 2 o'clock on the morning of June 13 it was 
launched by the Germans along the whole front. 
Without regard for men, the enemy hurled his 
forces against Bouresches and the Bois de Bel- 
leau, and sought to win back what had been taken 
from Germany by the Americans. The orders 
were that these positions must be taken at all 
costs; that the utmost losses in men must be en- 
dured that the Bois de Belleau and Bouresches 
might not fall again into German hands. But the 
depleted lines of the Marines held; the men who 
had fought on their nerve alone for days once 
more showed the mettle of which they were made. 
With their backs to the trees and boulders of 
the Bois de Belleau, with their sole shelter the 
scattered ruins of Bouresches, the thinning lines 
of the Marines repelled the attack and crashed 
back the new division which had sought to wrest 
the position from them. 

And so it went. Day after day, night after 
night, while time after time messages like the 
following traveled to the post command : 

Losses heavy. Difficult to get runners through. Some 
have never returned. Morale excellent, but troops about 
all in. Men exhausted. 

Exhausted, but holding on. And they con- 
tinued to hold on in spite of every difficulty. Ad- 
vancing their lines slowly day by day, the Ma- 
rines finally prepared their pc sitions to such an 
extent that the last rush for the possession of the 

[284] 



MARINES AT CHATEAU-THIERRY 

wood could be made. Then, on June 24, follow- 
ing a tremendous barrage, the struggle began. 

The barrage literally tore the woods to pieces, 
but even its immensity could not wipe out all the 
nests that remained ; the emplacements that were 
behind almost every clump of bushes, every jag- 
ged, rough group of boulders. But those that re- 
mained were wiped out by the American method 
of the rush and the bayonet, and in the days that 
followed every foot of Belleau Wood was cleared 
of the enemy and held by the frayed lines of the 
Americans. 

It was, therefore, with the feeling of work well 
done that the depleted lines of the Marines were 
relieved in July, that they might be filled with 
replacements and made ready for the grand of- 
fensive in the vicinity of Soissons, July 18. And 
in recognition of their sacrifice and bravery this 
praise was forthcoming from the French: 

Army Headquarters, June 30, 1918. 
In view of the brilliant conduct of the Fourth Brigade 
of the Second United States Division, which in a spirited 
fight took Bouresches and the important strong point of 
Bois de Belleau, stubbornly defended by a large enemy 
force, the general commanding the Sixth Army orders 
that henceforth, in all official papers, the Bois de Belleau 
shall be named "Bois de la Brigade de Marine." 

Division General Degoutte, 
Commanding Sixth Army. 

Congratulations from General Pershing and 
General Foch on the fine work of the Fourth Bri- 
gade were embodied in a general order, dated 

[285] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

June 9, 19 1 8, issued by Brigadier General Har- 
bord to the units under his command. 

On July 18 the Marines were again called into 
action in the vicinity of Soissons, near Tigny and 
Vierzy. In the face of a murderous fire from 
concentrated machine guns, which contested 
every foot of their advance, the United States 
Marines moved forward until the severity of 
their casualties necessitated that they dig in and 
hold the positions they had gained. Here, again, 
their valor called forth official praise, which came 
in the following: 

General Orders, No. 46. 

It is with keen pride that the divisional commander 
transmits to the command the congratulations and af- 
fectionate greetings of Gen. Pershing, who visited the 
divisional headquarters last night. His praise of the 
gallant work of the division on the i8th and 19th is 
echoed by the French high command, the Third Corps 
commander, American Expeditionary Forces, and in a 
telegram from the former divisional commander. In 
spite of two sleepless nights, long marches through rain 
and mud, and the discomfort of hunger and thirst, the 
division attacked side by side with the gallant First 
Moroccan Division, and maintained itself with credit. 
You advanced over 6 miles, captured over 3,000 prison- 
ers, II batteries of artillery, over 100 machine guns, 
minnenwerfers, and supplies. The Second Division has 
sustained the best traditions of the Regular Army and the 
Marine Corps. The story of your achievements will be 
told in millions of homes in all allied nations to-night. 

J. G. Harbord, Major General, N. A. 
France, July 21. 

Then came the battle for the St. Mihiel salient. 
On the night of September 11 the Second Divi- 

[286] 



MARINES AT CHATEAU-THIERRY 

sion took over a line running from Remenauville 
to Limey, and on the night of September 14 and 
the morning of September 15 attacked, with two 
days' objectives ahead of them. Overcoming the 
enemy resistance, they romped through to the 
Rupt de Mad, a small river, crossed it on stone 
bridges, occupied Thiacourt, the first day's ob- 
jective, scaled the heights just beyond it, pushed 
on to a line running from the Zammes-Joulney 
Ridges to the Binvaux Forest, and there rested, 
with the second day's objectives occupied by 2.50 
o'clock of the first day. The casualties of the 
division were about 1,000, of which 134 were 
killed. Of these, about half were Marines. The 
captures in which the Marines participated were 
80 German officers, 3,200 men, ninety-odd can- 
non, and vast stores. 

But even further honors were to befall the 
fighting, landing, and building force, of which 
the Navy is justly proud. In the early part of 
October it became necessary for the Allies to cap- 
ture the bald, jagged ridge 20 miles due east of 
Rheims, known as Blanc Mont Ridge. Here the 
armies of Germany and the Allies had clashed 
more than once, and attempt after attempt had 
been made to wrest it from German hands. It 
was a keystone of the German defense, the fall of 
which would have a far-reaching effect upon the 
enemy armies. To the glory of the United States 
Marines, let it be said, that they were again a 
part of that splendid Second Division which 

[287] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

swept forward in the attack which freed Blanc 
Mont Ridge from German hands, pushed its way- 
down the slopes, and occupied the level ground 
just beyond, thus assuring a victory, the full im- 
port of which can best be judged by the order of 
General Lejeune, following the battle, in which 
he said : 

As a dnect result of your victory, the German armies 
east and west of Rheims are in full retreat, and by draw- 
ing on yourselves several German divisions from other 
parts of the front you greatly assisted the victorious ad- 
vance of the allied armies between Cambrai and St. 
Quentin. 

Thus it is that the United States Marines have 
fulfilled the glorious traditions of their corps in 
this their latest duty as the ''soldiers who go to 
sea/' Their sharpshooting — and in one regiment 
93 per cent of the men wear the medal of a 
marksman, a sharpshooter, or an expert rifleman 
— has amazed soldiers of European armies, ac- 
customed merely to shooting in the general direc- 
tion of the enemy. Under the fiercest fire they 
have calmly adjusted their sights, aimed for their 
man, and killed him, and in bayonet attacks their 
advance on machine-gun nests has been irresist- 
ible. In the official citation lists more than one 
American Marine is credited with taking an 
enemy machine gun single handed, bayoneting 
its crew and then turning the gun against the foe. 
In one battle alone, that of Belleau Wood, the ci- 
tation lists bear the names of fully 500 United 

[288] 



MARINES AT CHATEAU-THIERRY 

States Marines who so distinguished themselves 
in battle as to call forth the official commendation 
of their superior officers. 

More than faithful in every emergency, ac- 
cepting hardships with admirable morale, proud 
of the honor of taking their place as shock troops 
for the American legions, they have fulfilled 
every glorious tradition of their corps, and they 
have given to the world a list of heroes whose 
names will go down to all history. 



[289] 



XXXI 

COMRADES OF THE SEAS 

There is one outstanding blessing that came to the 
world out of this war, and that is the perfect cooperation 
and sympathy and comradeship between the American 
and British navies. They worked together during the 
struggle in close cooperation with other allied navies. 
They are together now and must forever be together in 
the resolve to protect what their valor has won, and to 
preserve alike for themselves and all the world the com- 
plete freedom of the seas. 

Springfield, Mass., December 8, igi8. 

A FEW months ago in almost every city of 
this country, Americans gathered with their 
French allies to celebrate Bastille day. It gave 
me a thrill, as I stood on the platform with the 
French ambassador, at the celebration held in 
New York, to express the sentiment which was 
in the heart of every American, of gratitude and 
love for France. 

Particularly so, because as Secretary of the 
Navy, I recalled that a great French general had 
come to our aid at the time of our need, commem- 
orated by Pershing when, at LaFayette's tomb, 
he said: ''LaFayette, we are here." And we 
never can forget that at Yorktown victory came 

[290] 



COMRADES OF THE SEAS 

when the French ships appeared, and the first 
salute to the American flag came from a French 
ship. 

We are gathered here to-day to express the 
sentiment which dominates us, an appreciation of 
that great empire whose mighty navy and cour- 
ageous army have stood like a stone wall for four 
years in the cause of Hberty. That was a fitting 
toast which some brilliant man proposed to 
George Washington when, speaking of the Revo- 
lution, he said: ''Here's to George Washington, 
that splendid Englishman, who had a fight with a 
German king and defeated him." The misunder- 
standing we had with Great Britain, by which we 
won our independence, and Great Britain won 
the large liberty which it enjoys to-day, bound 
us together with ties which can never be broken. 

The fact that the President recently promoted 
Vice-Admiral Sims to be a full admiral of the 
navy shows that in the American navy no one 
mistake of judgment or honest error precludes 
any naval officer from the highest promotion. As 
a young officer, Admiral Sims, then Commander 
Sims, received a reprimand from the President 
of the United States and a serious rebuke from 
the Secretary of the Navy because, at a dinner 
given by the Lord Mayor of London, Sims in re- 
ply to the address of welcome of the Lord Mayor 
said: 'Tf the time ever comes when the British 
empire is seriously menaced by an external en- 
emy, it is my opinion that you may count upon 

[291] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

every man, every dollar, every drop of blood, of 
your kindred across the sea/' 

Commander Sims v^as guilty of a serious in- 
fraction of naval regulations, and President 
Taft's reprimand was in accordance with the duty 
of the chief executive under conditions as they 
then existed. It is evident that no naval officer 
ought to turn prophet at a public banquet, par- 
ticularly when his prophecy offends a nation with 
which his government is at peace. 

But time has demonstrated one thing, and that 
is that Commander Sims was a true prophet and 
the years 19 17-18 witnessed the literal fulfillment 
of his prediction. To be sure, America did not 
enter the war as an ally of Great Britain as a 
nation, but became associated with the allies in 
the big war because the principles of freedom 
dear to every free nation were seriously menaced. 

There is one outstanding blessing that came to 
the world out of this war, and that is the perfect 
cooperation and sympathy and comradeship be- 
tween the American and British navies. They 
worked together during the struggle in close co- 
operation with other allied navies. They are to- 
gether now and must forever be together in the 
resolve to protect what their valor has won and 
to preserve alike for themselves and all the world 
the complete freedom of the seas. 

Sea-power is the determining factor in war, 
for if the seas had not been kept open victory 
could not have been achieved. We send to Brit- 

[292] 



COMRADES OF THE SEAS 

ain our greetings and appreciation, and the ties 
between the two countries will be strengthened. 
England and America, acting in perfect accord, 
will never allow another menace to grow, such as 
has been witnessed during the past four years, 
and they will do their utmost to insure freedom 
for all the nations on the face of the earth. 

When the war broke out we lacked ships to 
carry our men and supplies across the waters. 
Britain came to our aid and transported to France 
American soldiers and supplies for them, and 
the seas were kept open. Never in the history of 
the world were so many men, together with their 
complete equipment, carried across 3,000 miles 
of water with as few losses. Though we sent to 
France 2,000,000 men in one and a half years not 
a single man lost his life on an American troop- 
ship and only a few went to their death as the re- 
sult of submarine attacks on other transports. 

The Germans, too, were somewhat surprised at 
our job of crossing. A few weeks before the 
armistice was signed some German prisoners 
were brought to a French camp, and Allied of- 
ficers went to question them. Among them was 
a young German who had spent the early part of 
his life in the United States, and he expressed 
surprise at seeing so many Americans already in 
France. He said to the Allied officers : *'When 
I was in Germany on my last furlough they told 
me that there were only a handful of Americans 
in France, but it looks to me as though the whole 

[293] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

face of the earth was covered with Yankees." 
This young German wore the iron cross — which 
to-day can be bought at about a cent a bushel. 
He was much interested in the Victoria crosses 
and the Croix de Guerre worn by the officers 
about him. He remarked to the officers : "I can 
understand the French crosses and the British 
cross, but what puzzles me is, How did the Amer- 
icans get across?" 

It was the close cooperation of the boys in the 
navy that got those men across. I wish I could 
tell you more of these boys. From the begin- 
ning of the war they have burdened me with re- 
quests to be assigned to destroyer duty, which is 
the most hazardous of all. April 6 will hence- 
forth in our annals be in the same category as 
July 4. Twenty-eight days after America had de- 
clared war, a flotilla of American destroyers was 
in British waters, and through the cold blasts of 
last winter, the boys of our navy were exchang- 
ing experiences with the boys of the British 
navy, and together they were making the subma- 
rine impotent, so far as winning the war was 
concerned, thus giving new glory to our flag. 



[294] 



XXXII 

THE NEED OF A GREATER NAVY 

It seems self-evident that a world-police must be es- 
tablished, no matter what the plan of operation of the 
Peace League may be. That world police will be largely 
naval, for only a police equipped with and trained to 
ships could be world-mobile, and a world-police which 
could not move speedily and powerfully about the world 
would be as valueless and impotent as a city police in- 
capable of traversing the city's streets. 

Statement to House Naval Affairs Committee, in Hear- 
ings on Naval Appropriation Bill, December jo, Ipi8, 

No step backward, but a long step forward, 
should be taken by this Congress in strengthen- 
ing the American Navy. The additional three- 
year program recommended in my annual re- 
port is a conservative one intended to continue the 
policy of steady upbuilding of the Navy estab- 
lished in 1916. The General Board of the Navy, 
after extensive investigation and exhaustive con- 
sideration, has recommended a much larger pro- 
gram, extending to the year 1925. While their 
recommendations are entitled to, and have re- 
ceived, very careful consideration, the Depart- 
ment has not felt justified at this time in recom- 
mending such an extensive program, or one ex- 

[295] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

tending over such a long period. At the same 
time, a year-by-year program is not thought 
to be advisable; it is too much of the hand-to- 
mouth nature, and naval experts and thinking 
men interested in the Navy have seen its unwis- 
dom and in 19 16 succeeded in substituting a bet- 
ter plan. When the three-year program policy 
was adopted, it met with general approval 
throughout the country, and a reversion to hand- 
to-mouth methods now would be a retrograde 
step. The Department has felt that the least it 
could do at this time was to recommend a virtual 
duplication of this program. 

As regards the larger vessels of definite types, 
the numbers of each type can now be fixed and 
have been recommended. I am asking that au- 
thorization be given for the construction of ten 
dreadnaughts, six battle cruisers, and ten scout 
cruisers to be laid down during the coming three 
years and one hundred and thirty other ships of 
such type and character as may give us a well- 
rounded Navy. The initial appropriation need 
not be large, for work on some of the big ships al- 
ready authorized was necessarily deferred during 
the war in order that efforts might be concen- 
trated upon destroyers and like small craft and 
merchant ships. Now the construction of the big 
ships will be pushed as rapidly as possible, the 
number of small craft being ample until more 
dreadnaughts and other big ships are added to the 
naval force. As regards these smaller vessels, a 

[296] 



THE NEED OF A GREATER NAVY 

general authorization is requested in order that a 
study of all types produced by all nations during 
the war may be made and preliminary work may 
be done. In view of the large number of smaller 
vessels undertaken during the war which will 
continue to be constructed during the next year, 
it is not recommended that the construction of ad- 
ditional smaller vessels be pressed at this time. 
The details concerning them can be taken up sub- 
sequently. In this connection it should be point- 
ed out that although the program of 19 16 ex- 
tended over three years, the individual vessels to 
be undertaken in any specified year were specified 
each year by the Congress. It is expected and 
recommended that this practice be continued. My 
thought is, and it finds expression in the esti- 
mates, that under present conditions we ought to 
make no change in the naval program which 
the United States set for itself in 1916. We ought 
neither to commit ourselves to any gigantic ex- 
pansion nor to recede from the wise three-year 
policy. 

It is our duty to consider the obligations im- 
posed upon America if the Peace Conference now 
occupied at Versailles upon the greatest task 
which ever engaged the attention of a human 
gathering during the whole course of the world's 
history completes its work constructively and sat- 
isfactorily, as we all hope it will do. Let us as- 
sume that this Conference will give birth to some 
plan looking toward a concert of the nations for 

[297] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

the maintenance of peace. Whether it be a 
League of Nations, according to the present ac- 
ceptation of the meaning of that term, or what 
not, it will be some manner of body to which dif- 
fering nations will perforce submit their differ- 
ences for adjudication and which will be suffi- 
ciently powerful to induce acceptance of its de- 
cisions when once they shall be made. 

The experience of poor and imperfect humanity 
has very fully taught the lesson that power for 
the enforcement of judicial decisions sometimes 
needs to be considerable; and back of that must 
lie a tremendous police power of prevention if 
judicial decisions are to be made as infrequent as 
possible, indeed if society is to exist at all. Arbi- 
tration which had behind it no power capable of 
compelling the disputants to accept the decisions 
)f the arbitrators would have no value whatsoever 
in cases of serious emergency. 

It seems self-evident that a world-police must 
be established to achieve this purpose, no matter 
what the constitution or plan of operation of the 
Peace League may be. That world-police will 
be very largely naval, for only a police equipped 
with and trained to ships could be world-mobile, 
and a world-police which could not move speedily 
and powerfully about the world would be as 
valueless and impotent as a city police incapable 
of traversing the city's streets. 

This being true, it becomes obvious that if the 
United States is to participate in such a move- 

[298] 



THE NEED OF A GREATER NAVY 

ment it must participate upon a scale commensu- 
rate with its wealth, intelligence, great population 
and scientific attainments. Any lesser participa- 
tion would be a shirking of its duty. A contribu- 
tion less in cost, strength or any detail of per- 
fection, than that of any other member of the 
League, would be undignified and unworthy of a 
nation which by Providence has been so gener- 
ously endowed as the United States. 

I am quite certain that it would be improper for 
America even to consider the proposition of con- 
tributing to the world-police a number of units 
smaller than that contributed by the greatest 
other power. It seems to me that this is obviously 
the American duty and that the other nations of 
the world would be justified in regarding us as 
shirkers if we failed to accept the burden of it 
cheerfully and turn to the performance of it with 
an unexampled earnestness and high efficiency. 
It would be contrary to all our traditions and all 
our ideals to assume that in the planning of a 
new and mighty Navy, America could be ani- 
mated either by fear or by the intention of ag- 
gression. 

What if, unhappily, the Peace Conference 
should fail to come to an agreement upon such a 
plan ? Suppose the Powers do not now agree to 
curtail armament. Then it is entirely obvious to 
all that the United States, if she is to realize her 
destiny as a leader of the democratic impulse, if 
she is to play her proper part (as she, hand in 

[299] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

hand with her incomparable Allies, has played it 
in this war) in the protection of small nations, the 
preservation of the freedom of the seas for them 
and for the world at large, must have a Navy that 
will be as powerful as that of any nation in the 
world. 

It is my firm conviction that if the Conference 
at Versailles does not result in a general agree- 
ment to put an end to naval building on the part 
of all the nations, then the United. States must 
bend her will and bend her energies, must give 
her men and give her money to the task of the 
creation of incomparably the greatest Navy in 
the world. She has no designs upon the terri- 
tory or the trade of any other nation or group of 
nations. But she is pledged to the support of the 
Monroe Doctrine ; she is pledged to the protection 
of the weak w^herever they may suffer threats; 
she is incomparably rich, incomparably strong in 
natural resources; if need be she must be incom- 
parably strong in defense against aggressors and 
in offense against evil doers. 

America is committed to the promise of enter- 
ing into a general and genuine plan for the re- 
duction of armaments. If the outcome of the 
Peace Conference shall be that all nations will 
concur in this idea, then the United States will 
gladly join them in the worthy plan. For three 
years we have been committed to such a program 
in such circumstances. But if such an agreement 
cannot be shortly arranged, then we here in 

[300] 



THE NEED OF A GREATER NAVY 

America must accept the burden which the fail- 
ure automatically will thrust upon us and meet 
it by adding such units to our Navy as will secure 
our own safety and aid powerfully in protecting 
the peace of the world. 

Every year since I have been Secretary of the 
Navy I have urged an international agreement to 
end competitive and costly naval construction. 
The day for the realization of that long-cherished 
idea seems not far distant. We are pledged to 
cooperate with other nations to a reduction of 
armament. Unless the nations now agree upon 
such conventions as will compel the settlement of 
national differences by arbitration we will fail to 
garner the best fruits of the dearly-bought vic- 
tory. For one, I believe the war has taught us 
two things: First, that national differences and 
greed for power may always endanger the peace 
of the world; Second, that to prevent differences 
and selfish ambitions from producing another war 
there must be constituted a high tribunal and 
there must be a world-police power so strong that 
no nation will dare defy the strength of a decree 
of such an international tribunal. 



[301] 



XXXIII 

DRINK BANISHED FROM THE NAVY 

The wine-mess order was not as popular at first as it 
deserved to be, but leading naval officers will tell you 
that there are not five per cent of the officers of the 
Navy who would permit intoxicants to come back if 
the question were put to a vote. The order was issued 
because temperance promotes efficiency. 

Board of Temperance, Prohibition and Public Morals 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Washington, D. C, 
December I'j, ipi8. 

1 WAS asked to come before you this morning 
to explain the reason why the so-called ''Dry Or- 
der'' in the Navy was issued. There were many 
reasons given for it at the time, but nearly all 
those explanations were wrong. It was issued, of 
course, solely because temperance is the only sure 
method to efhciency, and my ambition was that 
the American Navy, whether it be large or 
whether it be small — no matter what its size — 
should be the most efficient and most powerful 
navy afloat. 

But the moving cause of it — I might not have 
issued it at that time, although I had thought 
of it ever since I came into the Cabinet, and I 
had been studying conditions — was the following 

[302]. 



DRINK BANISHED FROM THE NAVY 

incident: One day there came into my office a 
splendid gentleman, and he said, "I want to talk 
to you about my nephew. You have expelled him 
from the Navy in disgrace, and I wish to appeal 
to you to reinstate him." His nephew had been 
drunk on board ship. He had gone ashore to a 
dinner and made an exhibition of himself, and 
brought disgrace on the service. He had been 
tried by court martial and convicted and sen- 
tenced to dishonorable dismissal from the Navy. 
I said to him, "I cannot change the order; 
I cannot permit men to disgrace the service that 
way and remain in it." And then this man, an 
old Quaker, said to me, "Sir, this boy is a prod- 
uct of the Navy, you have made him what he 
is; and now you throw him out in disgrace!" and 
he gave a very deserved and severe lecture upon 
a service that would make it possible and easy 
for young men to go into temptation and into 
drink and then, when they had fallen, disgrace 
them for life. It impressed me very much. He 
explained, ''When this boy's father died, he came 
into my family to live as my own son. We never 
had even a drop of wine on our table. We are 
strictly temperate in our home, and the boy never 
tasted a drink until he went to Annapolis, nor 
until after he graduated; and then he went 
aboard ship and at every dinner there was the 
wine served; there was then a feeling in the 
Navy that if a man did not take his glass he was 
not exactly a good fellow; they nearly all 

[303] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

did it, and this boy, following the custom, learned 
the taste of it, he liked it; and now he's 
ruined, and the Navy,'' said he, "is responsible 
for the ruin of that boy, and I charge it to you 1" 
I thought it was a just indictment, and I made 
up my mind at once that I would issue the or- 
der. And that's the reason why the order went 
through. 

Now, I had no illusions about the order when 
I signed it. I never deemed it would be very 
popular in certain circles. I knew, in the first 
place, that many excellent men, many sober men, 
many men in the Navy who never had in their 
lives taken more than a glass of wine, and who 
had never neglected their duties, would resent the 
order as telling to the world that it was necessary 
for an order to be issued to make them sober and 
efficient. I had respect for their opinions; 
and when they criticised it and said, "We don't 
care anything about it except that it makes a bad 
impression on the public mind about us," I could 
see their point of view. But I reflected that there 
were coming into the service thousands of men, 
young men, who had not the stamina to resist, 
and my obligation and duty was to them. 
Moreover, there was already in existence in the 
Navy an order that if an enlisted man should so 
much as bring a bottle of beer on board ship 
and drink it, he was put in the brig; and yet 
these men under the rules served the drinks 
to the officers. I am a kind of an old-fash- 

[304] 



DRINK BANISHED FROM THE NAVY 

loned democrat — not speaking politically, though 
I might speak that way too — but, I am an old- 
fashioned sort of an American who believes that 
what is good enough for an officer is good enough 
for the enlisted man. And my observation has 
been that whiskey and all other alcoholic drinks 
will make a Senator or an admiral just as drunk 
as they will make a mechanic or an enlisted 
man. 

So that the order had not only efficiency, which 
was the primal thing, but it had also democracy 
behind it, because I would not be Secretary of a 
Navy that would say to a young man who was 
scrubbing the decks, ''If you take a glass of wine 
you go to the brig," when he saw the wine being 
carried to the officers' quarters and heard the 
drink-inspired sounds of jollity that issued from 
those quarters. The old method wasn't democ- 
racy, and it wasn't Americanism. 

Not long after that order was issued you know 
what happened. I have a rather good collection 
of the cartoons that followed, and they interested 
me very much. But the storm was not as great 
as I expected. I thought that when Congress 
met some distinguished member would rise in 
that body and offer a resolution to the effect that 
I had exceeded my powers in putting prohibition 
in effect over a large part of the world with- 
out legislative sanction, because, you know, the 
water is a much greater part of the world than 
the land. And I, by one order, had put into effect 

[305] 



THE NAVY AND TJIE NATION 

so far as America was concerned, prohibition 
over the greater part of the world. But by the 
time Congress assembled, instead of the resolu- 
tion being offered, I think even to those who did 
not approve of prohibition in general it was ap- 
parent that the Navy had become so efficient that 
they had no argument against it. There never 
was any question raised in Congress about the 
authority to issue the order, and I think now 
there is no question anywhere about the wisdom 
of it. 

Not long ago I was talking with one of the 
very best admirals in the Navy, a brave and cour- 
ageous and splendid man, and he said, ''You 
know I must tell you something about that order. 
My ship was in New York at the time the order 
was issued, and I was going up to Boston to 
spend a week or two. I had been entertained in 
Boston by many people, and so I told the steward 
to stock up my larder ; and I had put in the wine 
and the champagne and the other things along 
with the food, not because I drink myself, — I 
rarely taste it; a glass of wine at a meal is all I 
ever take, — but when I had guests on the ship, I 
always entertained them as they did me when I 
was on shore. I had spent considerable money 
for the entertainment, and when the order came 
I distinctly resented it. I felt that you had put 
upon my liberties and my rights something that 
was almost an affront, but," he added, *'I am 
what they call in the Navy a 'Captain's man,' 

[306] 



DRINK BANISHED FROM THE NAVY 

I give orders and expect them to be obeyed, and 
when the order came from the Secretary of the 
Navy, I obeyed. I said nothing to anybody. I 
sent for the steward and I said, 'Take it all out/ 
I went ahead and have never spoken of the inci- 
dent to this day, but," he said, 'T am speaking of 
it now to you because since then I have come to 
a higher position in the Navy, and have had op- 
portunities to observe the operations of General 
Order 99, and I do not believe there are five per 
cent of the officers of the Navy who would permit 
intoxicants to come back if it were put to a vote." 
I had the suggestion made from many quar- 
ters, that there ought to be an exception to the 
order; that it was all right, and proper, that it 
should apply without any exceptions to Amer- 
icans in American ports, but when our ships went 
abroad and all the officers entertained the cap- 
tains and admirals of other navies, of course it 
would not be courteous and proper to people who 
are accustomed to that kind of entertainment, 
not to entertain them exactly as they entertained 
us. And on one occasion, when we had a dis- 
tinguished party from abroad in Washington, 
who were to be entertained on the Mayflower, the 
suggestion was made that we ought to relax the 
rule. In China, they said, it would not be popu- 
lar. Well, I replied that the order had been is- 
sued with no exceptions. I knew enough of the 
spirit of the people abroad to be certain that they 
would respect the Navy a great deal more if it 

[307] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

believed in this principle, if it practiced it all 
over the world, than if it observed the rule only 
at home. 

So that is the simple story of what caused at 
one time a storm. But I always knew that the 
great heart of the American people, and I always 
knew that the great Church to which I belonged, 
which is a temperance church and a prohibition 
church, were behind it, and that I was but doing 
in my place what you and millions of other Amer- 
icans were doing in their places, putting the 
stamp of condemnation on the liquor traffic, and 
upon the evil of drinking, wherever we could. 

We are now coming to a day when I trust and 
believe this evil will be put under ban by law. 
This is the first war in the history of the world 
when any nation, as a nation, through govern- 
ment officials, has taken the stand that our Gov- 
ernment has taken with reference to drink and 
immorality, and when zones were established 
around all encampments and around all training 
stations, to protect young men from the tempta- 
tions that assail them ; so that as we end the war 
and contrast it with all former wars, we find 
that, compared to those other wars, very few 
men have been incapacitated by drink. We have 
found in war as in peace, that efficiency is pro- 
moted by temperance and that you cannot have 
a strong army and a strong navy unless you have 
a sober army and a sober navy. 

One other matter I might touch upon which 

[308] 



DRINK BANISHED FROM THE NAVY 

I think would be interesting as illustrating the 
progress made along the line of this cause in 
which we are all engaged, is the legislation that 
passed Congress which puts prohibition in effect 
in this country on the first of July, to last until 
complete demobilization. There was quite a fight 
against that, particularly along the line that dur- 
ing the war it would lessen the product of labor, 
and that many men who worked in the shipyards, 
the factories and the munition plants would not 
be so willing to work if they could not get their 
intoxicating drinks, and there were not wanting 
many people who accepted that idea. In Great 
Britain, as you know, when Lloyd George de- 
clared early in the war that the greatest enemy 
of Great Britain was not Germany, but drink, 
steps were not taken that they might well have 
taken and which all countries might profitably 
have taken, to stop the liquor traffic during the 
war. At a hearing before one of our Congres- 
sional committees the question came up as to 
labor, I was requested to appear before the 
Committee, as some of you may remember, and 
testify on the question of how a suppression of 
liquor consumption would affect shipbuilding. I 
gave the concrete example that at the Mare Is- 
land Navy Yard in California we had built a de- 
stroyer in less time than it had been built in any 
other navy yard in the world, and that this had 
been accomplished after we had put the dry zone 
around Mare Island Navy Yard. You cannot 

[309] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

argue, as Josh Billings says, "agin a success." 
I put the concrete example of our construction at 
the Norfolk Navy Yard and in the Charleston 
Navy Yard, and at the Mare Island Navy Yard 
and at navy yards in states that were dry, against 
the navy yards in the states that were not dry, 
with the result that at least the efficiency was 
quite as great where the men did not leave their 
work to take their mid-day drink as in those 
places where they did. That argument, I think, 
had convincing effect, just as one fact is better 
than a thousand theories. 

I am very much pleased to be with you ; I thank 
you for the honor you have done me, and I trust 
that we shall soon, as the legislatures meet in the 
spring, be able to have a great ratification meet- 
ing, when we shall find that enough states have 
ratified the amendment to make this country the 
pioneer in the world in real Temperance as it has 
been the pioneer in Liberty and Humanity. 



t3ioJ 



XXXIV 

ITALY AN INSPIRATION 

Whether fighting in the Italian army, or marching 
under the Stars and Stripes, the sons of Italy who live 
on these shores were enlisted in a common army fight- 
ing for a common liberty for a common humanity. May 
I not express the hope that one of the blessings that will 
blossom from the ashes of this war will be a perfect 
Americanization of all who find hospitable homes in 
our land? 

Italy-America Society, New York, January 26, ipip. 

Never in the history of the world were the 
peoples of two nations more closely knit together 
in the glow of fellowship than in the first days of 
this New Year, when President Wilson was the 
guest of Italy. His reception marked a new high- 
tide in national welcomes, for while it came first 
from King and leader, it found its deepest ex- 
pression in the greetings of the whole people. He 
voiced American sentiment when, speaking at 
Turin, he made reference to Baron Sonnino's ar- 
gument for the extension of the sovereignty of 
Italy over the Italian population. "I am sorry," 
said the President, "we cannot let you have New 
York, which, I understand, is the greatest Italian 
city in the world/' and he added, "I am proud 

[311] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

to be the President of a nation which contains 
so large an element of the Italian race, because 
as a student of literature I know the genius that 
has originated in this great nation, the genius of 
thought and of poetry and of philosophy and of 
music, and I am happy to be a part of a nation 
which is enriched and made better by the intro- 
duction of such elements of genius and of in- 
spiration/' 

As our President visited the Sacred Ways in 
Rome, Boni pointed out the tomb of Romulus and 
other sacred places, and presenting him with 
branches of laurel and myrtle said: "To-day I 
offer these symbols to you the upholder of the 
freedom and civilization of peoples,'' to which 
the President replied: "These sacred symbols 
speak a great and profound language." The re- 
ply of the great archaeologist is the most beauti- 
ful tribute yet paid to our countrymen. He said : 
"You Americans have something more sacred 
still, but you carry it in your hearts — a love for 
humanity." To be worthy of that tribute is in- 
spiration and incentive to Americans, native 
or foreign born. 

It was an epoch-making day in the world's his- 
tory — was August first, 19 14 — when the Italian 
Government informed Germany and Austria that 
the obligations made under the Triple Alliance 
applied only to defensive warfare. When the 
Prussian autocrat, arrogant and dominating, 
looking with envious eyes upon world treasure 

[312] 



ITALY AN INSPIRATION 

and world dominion, hurled his legions into Bel- 
gium, he never dreamed that his breach of faith 
would shock the conscience of men in the Eternal 
City. He was so confident of his control of the 
Triple Alliance that he gave little consideration 
to the Italian action. Did not Italy depend upon 
Germany for its coal? Was it not bound by its 
membership with Germany and Austria to stand 
united? As his cohorts rushed forward, disre- 
garding solemn treaties, into the very heart of 
France, the fear of what Italy would do did not 
disturb his dream of conquest. If he gave any 
thought to the attitude of the Italian people it 
was to reflect that, though he regarded a treaty 
as ''a scrap of paper," the Italians held their word 
as their bond. In the respect he paid to their 
fidelity he felt assurance of victory in the onrush 
of his army, long trained for "the Day" which 
had at last arrived. But he did not pause to read 
the terms of the Triple Alliance and note that 
Italy's plighted word was confined only to a de- 
fensive war. To aid in a war for oppression, to 
be a party to the rape of Belgium, the undoing 
of France, to the crushing of Russia and the 
cruel warfare against non-combatants and 
women and children was never embraced in any 
pact to which Italy was a party. These crimes 
were abhorrent to the spirit of Italy and it 
promptly made known that it had made no cove- 
nant with brutality and no compact with cruelty. 
The months of neutrality which ensued were 
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THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

testing days for Italy. Its people hated war, they 
loved the delights of home and the haven which 
only peace secures. With the powerful, well- 
organized and well-equipped legions of the Cen- 
tral Empires menacing it on land and sea, it was 
natural that the people should deliberate before 
becoming a combatant against their old allies. 
They hurried nothing in their decision. It was a 
step that might indeed invite pause and contem- 
plation. The argument for a permanent neutral- 
ity was strong and compelling, viewed from every 
standpoint that left out national conscience and 
love of world freedom. But when a free nation, 
animated by love of fairness and devotion to lib- 
erty, must choose between its own material in- 
terests and its ideals, there is but one choice to 
make, and Italy with a noble spirit made that 
choice deliberately, resolutely, nobly. Its proud 
decision was worthy of its most heroic past, and 
gave full evidence, if proof were needed, that the 
Italy of this decade is the same Italy in purpose 
and in spirit that has made it for centuries the 
inspiration of courage, literature, art and con- 
cern for the common weal. 

It was on May 24th that war against Austria 
was declared and the King of Italy left for the 
front. That was the day of supreme decision. 
As a country Italy crossed its Rubicon and never 
again was there thought, or time either, for de- 
bate. From that moment the Italians were of 
the conquering hosts of the chivalric army of 

[314] 



ITALY AN INSPIRATION 

Crusaders. With a frowning frontier, almost 
impassable, the valorous Italian troops through 
the perils of snow and ice stormed the garrisoned 
mountains with an intrepid courage which re- 
called the epic days when Rome was the ruler of 
the world. And then came days of peril, of re- 
treat, of defeats, of suffering, of anguish when 
the oncoming Austro-Germans poured like an 
avalanche of destruction into the quiet valleys, 
menaced Venice, and caused even Rome to trem- 
ble lest the worst should come. 

In those dark hours — can we ever forget them ? 
— the civilization of the world seemed to hang 
in the balance. Not more in Rome and in Venice 
than in Washington and in New York was there 
the dread of possible further advances. But 
those ominous days of peril were never days of 
doubt. Somehow, although the news chilled the 
blood, it had its quick reaction. Italian troops, 
who had been surprised and pressed back after 
long months of waiting and privation, summoned 
the stern stuff of which they were made ; English 
and French troops hastened to aid their outnum- 
bered associates, and a detail of Americans who 
made up in daring what they lacked in numbers, 
united to answer the world prayer that the line 
on the Piave would be held. "Can they hold the 
line?'' was whispered in America as in Greece 
and in Japan and in the isles of the sea as upon 
the Continent. Somehow we felt, rather than 
reasoned, that the line would be held. It was the 

[315] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

Line between free government and government 
imposed by absolutism. Upon that ancient plain, 
rich with the blood of brave men of old, the world 
instinctively felt the issue transcended any since 
the Battle of the Marne. Not once but half a 
dozen times, as on the Marne and at Verdun, on 
the Piave the surface indications pointed to Ger- 
man victory. But there never was a moment 
from August, 19 14, until November nth, 19 18, 
when victory was possible to the army of des- 
potism. Not one. In every crisis when men 
scarcely dared to hope, there was a voice — shall 
we call it the still small voice? — that within us 
gave confidence and assurance that Victory, 
though baffled oft, would perch on the banner of 
Right. And this faith in the voices that could 
be heard only by ears attuned to catch the whis- 
perings of the God of Right, was the invisible 
armor which no projectile could pierce, no bomb 
could jar, and no weapons could penetrate. If 
the Germans had destroyed Venice, if they had 
marched through Paris, and if their fleet had 
landed troops in Great Britain, disastrous as these 
events would have seemed to our narrow vision, 
they could never have won the conflict. For they 
fought against spirit, and the Force of an Ideal 
is always conqueror over the Ideal of Force. 

The people of America have been privileged 
during the war to welcome to our country distin- 
guished missions from all the allied nations — I 
recall with peculiar pleasure the coming of the 

[316] 



ITALY AN INSPIRATION 

Italian mission headed by the Prince of Udine, 
a gallant officer of the Italian Navy. We cannot 
forget the words of his country's re-dedication 
uttered by him at the tomb of Washington on 
May 27th, 1917: "In the name of my cousin, the 
King of Italy, and the people of Italy, I solemnly 
declare that we shall never lay down our arms 
until our liberty and the liberty of the peoples 
suffering with us has been rendered safe against 
all surprises and violence, and our victory must 
be that of progress and justice." Through many 
weary months, though overtaken by "surprises" 
and forced back by 'Violence" which the Prince 
may have foreseen, the spirit of Italy, as breathed 
at Washington's tomb, rose superior to every foe. 
May we not truly feel that the prayer of Udine, 
''May the spirit of George Washington watch us 
and light us on our way," was answered in all 
fullness on the eleventh of November, 1918? The 
answer to that prayer brought joy not only to 
those Italians who have never left the homeland, 
but it gave a thrill and a gladness that will abide 
to Italians residing in America, many of whom 
had hastened to Italy to fight with their colors 
at the first outbreak of war and all of whom by 
deed or contribution had helped toward the vic- 
tory which we celebrate to-day. Whether fight- 
ing in the Italian army or marching under the 
Stars and Stripes, the sons of Italy who live on 
these shores were enlisted in a common army 

[317] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

fighting for a common liberty for a common hu- 
manity. 

May I not express the hope that one of the 
blessings that will blossom from the ashes of this 
war will be a perfect Americanization of all who 
find hospitable homes in our land? All men of 
Italian birth, and all men rearing their families 
in this country, no matter where born, owe it to 
themselves and their children to become voting 
citizens of the United States. It is only in this 
way in time of peace they can do their part to 
insure the equal justice for which they fought. 
Citizenship is alike a privilege and a duty. This 
war has shown that Italians who were natural- 
ized citizens did not love their mother country 
less. But they wisely gave first allegiance and 
loyal support to the country that had opened its 
doors to them and been blessed by their coming. 
Let us celebrate this victory by a resolve that the 
day of alien residence has passed and that those 
who live in America will hasten, as rapidly as 
laws permit, to become citizens in the full mean- 
ing of that enfranchisement. Likewise let us 
counsel Americans who are beckoned to find busi- 
ness and residence in other lands to become do- 
mesticated and to become full partners in the 
nation where they choose to abide. They will not 
love America less, but they will add to their use- 
fulness and the better perform their civic duties. 
In no nation should there be divided allegiance. 
Every nation has the right to expect of those 

[318] 



ITALY AN INSPIRATION 

who seek its portals that they shall enter in with- 
out any string tied to their full allegiance, and 
the outward and visible proof is citizenship and 
all the opportunities and responsibilities it carries 
with it. We love our fellow citizens of Italian 
birth but they are not hyphenated. They are 
American, having brought here the lessons of 
liberty which they will employ in the mutual duty 
of preserving all of justice which men of both 
and joint blood have won and preserved. 

I would like, at this time, to publicly acknowl- 
edge the debt of the American Navy, in common 
with all other navies of the world, to the Italian 
naval constructors whose daring and imagination 
have more than once led the way in the develop- 
ment of modern ships of war. All nations are 
deeply interested in the new designs of other na- 
tions, in the matter of ships and their armament, 
but I can assure you that information from no 
other nation, as to their new thoughts in the con- 
struction of battleships, is more eagerly sought 
for than that from the Italians. That same fine 
daring of thought, that same brilliancy of imag- 
ination and ability to see beyond the present and 
practicable into the realms of the intangible, that 
same ability to clothe in words and make definite 
and understandable the vague dreams of other 
men which has made your literature from time 
immemorial the world's model, which has made 
the fame of your poets everlasting, and the bril- 
liancy of your scholars unequaled, has shown it- 

[319] 



THE NAVY AND TflE NATION 

self in your naval construction, and in those in- 
ventions which have done so much to revolution- 
ize modern naval warfare. 

We shall never forget that it was your Mar- 
coni, an honored member of the Italian mission 
in 191 7, who trained the electric spark to leap 
at man's bidding boldly into space and carry his 
messages through the air, instead of being bound 
slavishly to the electric cable. As a result of his 
imagination and daring, our ships to-day talk 
freely across hundreds, even thousands, of miles 
of watery waste, and space and time have been 
practically annihilated, so far as the power of 
man to communicate with man is concerned. 

It was your great naval constructor Cuniberti 
and your other equally famous constructors who 
first dared the ''all-big-gun ship," the father of 
the modern super-dreadnaught. It was these 
same geniuses who first dared the three-gun tur- 
ret, which we Americans have so gladly adopted 
in our modern sea monsters. These are but some 
of the things to which we are indebted to Italian 
naval genius. 

In man's conquest of the air your same ability 
to imagine the unimaginable, and from thence 
proceed to make it not only imaginable but prac- 
tical, put your airplane development in the fore- 
front of the world's achievements in its mastery 
over what has, from time immemorial, been con- 
sidered the one element unconquerable by man. 

And if you have shown through many years 
[320] 



ITALY AN INSPIRATION 

your brilliancy of thought and mind in construc- 
tion and invention, so also in this war have you 
shown the same daring and audacity in your 
naval personnel. There is no finer bit of auda- 
cious heroism recorded in this war than the ex- 
ploit of Major Rosetti of the naval engineers and 
Lieutenant Paolucci in the sinking of the Aus- 
trian dreadnaught Verihis Unit is, in the safe- 
guarded harbor of Pola. Every red-blooded man 
thrilled with admiration when the story was first 
given to the world ; how the great Austrian man- 
of-war lay behind all of the most cunningly de- 
vised barriers that naval genius could construct, 
arrogantly secure and apparently as safe from 
danger as if no war existed — around it barrier 
after barrier of mines, entanglements and nets; 
how these two brilliant Italians devised a tiny 
boat, silent, fast, small, so small indeed that the 
officers themselves could not occupy it, but 
dressed in waterproof suits, allowed themselves 
to be dragged behind, while they directed its 
course. How, carrying two powerful clockwork 
bombs, they passed silently through every ob- 
struction, slipped in the darkness of the night to 
within a short distance of the ship itself, and then 
swam with their bombs to the very side of the bat- 
tleship to which they then fixed their terrible 
weapons; how, with the fine chivalry that goes 
with all really brave men, when their presence was 
detected, and they were dragged on board the 
doomed vessel, too late to save the ship, they in- 

[321] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

formed the Captain in order that no lives should 
be needlessly wasted. We American Navy men 
envy you those two officers and those others who, 
at various times, in less spectacular ways, but 
with almost equal daring, have done their part 
towards humbling the pride of the Austrian fleet. 

We like to think that it is this quality of in- 
ventiveness, of audacity, of imaginative genius 
which makes the Italians so American in their 
nature as to bring about the real absorption into 
our own nation of so many hundreds of thou- 
sands of Italy's sons. 

As I look at it, an Italian is a good part Amer- 
ican before he comes to America, on account of 
these very qualities, and it is not surprising to 
find so large a proportion of our countrymen de- 
scendants of Italian parents. 

If it is true that the American is now a com- 
posite of those forefathers who have emigrated 
from the ancient countries; if it is true, as some 
claim, that our various qualities which we like to 
think distinguish us from all other nations, when 
analyzed consist in this particular quality coming 
from one nation, and that particular quality from 
another, then I think that perhaps the greatest 
contributor to American daring, and American 
imagination, is that great nation which has stood 
preeminent on the Mediterranean since the Cae- 
sars. Americans have been called ''the Romans of 
the West." It is a proud title, and we accept it 
as proof of kinship in valor and in virtue. 

[322] 



XXXV 

women's work in war 

There was no great policy inaugurated or carried out 
without women's counsel as well as women's work at 
home and at the front. When the history of this war is 
written — and it will be rich in deeds of chivalry — the 
work of the Woman's Council of National Defense, ap- 
pointed by the President, will be given high place for 
what it did and what it inspired. 

Congressional Club, Washington, February /, 19 19. 

''Do not talk about women but tell us about the 
Navy/' said the chairman of your committee who 
honored me with the invitation to address the 
Congressional Club. The time was when there 
was not a woman in the Navy, and it was sup- 
posed to be one institution that could move on suc- 
cessfully without women. But even then the in- 
spiration of the men of the sea was found in the 
women they loved — sailor men are the best lovers 
ir the world, and, contrary to the popular notion, 
the truest. To-day, however, the Navy has 
learned that when increased burdens are imposed 
by war, the men must send out SOS calls to 
women to give help in carrying on its operations. 

[323] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

We not only have women nurses — and nobody 
deserves decorations of honor more than these 
ministering angels — but we have women yeomen 
and women stenographers and women doing 
every character of office work and doing it so well 
we find we cannot get along without them. 
Women have not stopped with these jobs re- 
garded heretofore as woman's work, but in the 
Navy they have been busy fashioning torpedoes, 
and I have seen them making guns and munitions 
and carrying on almost every character of work 
that a man does and doing it well. In some parts 
of the manufacture of torpedoes their deftness 
and quick touch make them better than men. I 
can never forget a beautiful young Navy girl in 
overalls, hands begrimed as she worked away on 
the death-dealing torpedoes, saying to me : "I like 
it. You know^ it makes me feel I am really in the 
war and helping to win it. But" — and her bon- 
nie smile made the grim workshop as homelike as 
a well-lighted parlor — *'it is rather tough, isn't it? 
All my life I have wished to make enough money 
to buy some really fine clothes, and now for the 
first time I am making enough to fill my heart's 
desire, and here I am dressed in overalls !" 

It was this cheerful and happy spirit, whether 
working in factory or plant or knitting or giving 
comforts to men in uniform, that characterized 
American women from the beginning to the end 
of the war. They sent their husbands and their 
sons to the front with a brave spirit and turned 

[324] 



WOMEN'S WORK IN WAR 

their hands to toil to make it easier and to do 
their share of work and sacrifice. But the big 
thing they did was not the indispensable work 
with their hands. It was the heartening of the 
men which their cheer and courage imparted. 
They were the first line of defense everywhere, at 
home and abroad, giving cofiFee and sandwiches 
here, giving smiles and welcome there, and moth- 
ering the boys going across the seas, some of 
them never to come back to their loving women- 
folk. Men do not fight for land or for the bunt- 
ing in the flag we love, but for women and the 
home which some woman makes bright with her 
love and charm. You cannot think, therefore, of 
the boy going down by the submarine stiletto or 
falling from the projectiles hurled from German 
trenches without realizing that his last thought 
was of some dear woman's face and his high re- 
solve to be worthy of her confidence in him. 

It was everywhere and in everything that 
women led and gave the strength to win the war. 
Asked if it was not more than she could bear to 
see both her sons go across, one mother voiced 
the universal sentiment of American women : "It 
is hard, very hard. Only one thing in the world 
could be harder to bear and that would be if in 
this heroic struggle they had not been eager to go 
and play the part of brave men." Do you ask 
whence came the spirit that hastened victory ? It 
was from women whose patriotism rose superior 
to their yearning for their first born ? There was 

[325] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

no great policy inaugurated or carried out with- 
out women's counsel as well as women's work at 
home and at the front. When the history of this 
war is written — and it will be rich in deeds of 
chivalry — the work of the Woman's Council of 
National Defense, appointed by the President, 
will be given high place for what it did and what 
it inspired. Headed by that grand ever-young 
woman (if she were a man I would call her "that 
grand old man," but my Southern chivalry for- 
bids) Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, the women were 
the very head and front and heart of American 
consecration, American sacrifice and American 
victory. Like Henry Van Dyke's Nataline, every- 
where they kept the light and played the fife in 
the darkest hours and in the dreariest days. The 
world can never forget the fullness of their de- 
votion and the completeness of the dedication of 
their powers and service and lives. 

These women ask no decorations, receive no 
promotions, obtain no titles or honors or emolu- 
ments, and they ask no thanks or recognition. 
They poured out their hearts, their treasure, their 
efforts, their sacrifice from love of humanity and 
devotion to liberty. They proved, if anybody 
doubted it before, in a thousand ways their right 
to equal partnership in all the blessings that came 
from freedom, and it is a reflection upon the jus- 
tice and chivalry of the men of America that they 
have delayed to invite these women into equal 
participation in the privilege and duties of citi- 

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WOMEN'S WORK IN WAR 

zenship. It would have been a small recognition 
of their wisdom and their worth to have asked 
American women to share, as voters, with Amer- 
ican men the re-making of a better and higher 
national life. Even Germany has called women 
to help regain what ambitious men threw away, 
and Great Britain was prompt to extend the right 
to vote while America withholds the ballot to 
women who have shown, wherever they enjoy 
suffrage, their capacity to exercise the right as 
wisely as their brothers. But the day is near at 
hand when the men of America will grant this 
too-long delayed right to women, and they will 
more than justify the wisdom of their full en- 
franchisement. May it be hastened, not as a 
favor but as a right. It will secure a stronger 
bulwark to American institutions which will bless 
us only as long as the American home remains the 
citadel of American ideals. 



[327] 



XXXVI 

A COVENANT OF PEACE 

The men who signed what will be called the world's 
Magna Charta did not hastily draw up this chart of 
freedom. They gave weeks to its consideration and 
drew upon the wisdom of peace-lovers of all nations 
who had looked forward to the coming of this new dis- 
pensation and made preparation for it. It has been 
hailed with joy in all nations, but here and there is a 
note of doubt and distrust. Honest doubters will be- 
come its ablest champions, but militarists see in it no 
rainbow of promise across the sky. 

Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York, Feb- 
ruary i6, ipip. 

When the representatives of fourteen nations, 
sitting in Paris, embracing the most powerful, 
victorious countries and representing twelve hun- 
dred million people, agreed upon a covenant of 
peace, it was an event in the world's history sec- 
ond only to the declaration of the shepherds of 
Bethlehem : 'We have seen His star in the East 
and have come to worship Him." Practical states- 
men, from Paris to Tokio, with differing tradi- 
tions and speech, all spoke and understood the 
same language for the first time since that day 
of Pentecost at Jerusalem when "men out of 
every nation under heaven heard them speak each 

[328] 



A COVENANT OF PEACE 

in his own language/' The Scriptures tell us, 
**They were all amazed and marveled, saying one 
to another : 'Behold are not all these which speak 
Galileans? And how hear we every man in our 
own tongue, wherein we were born ... we hear 
them speak in our tongues the wonderful works 
of God,' and they said to one another, 'What 
meaneth this?' " And Peter, standing up before 
men of every tongue, all able to understand him, 
concluded his illuminating answer with the ever- 
memorable words : ''For the promise is unto you 
and unto your children, and to all that are afar 
off." That promise to which men have looked 
for twenty centuries is: "Peace on earth; good 
will toward men." 

To us has come the honor of living in this 
eventful day, when, in the fullness of time, "after 
massacre, after murder," this prophecy is being 
fulfilled, and Christians and Jews and men of all 
nations and creeds have agreed upon a covenant 
for the end of all wars of aggression, and our 
ears have heard the bells ring in "a thousand 
years of peace." 

The men who signed what will be called the 
world's Magna Charta did not hastily draw up 
this chart of freedom. They gave weeks to its 
consideration and drew upon the wisdom of peace- 
lovers of all nations who had looked forward to 
the coming of this new dispensation and made 
preparation for it. It has been hailed with joy 
in all the nations, but here and there is a note of 

[329] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

doubt and distrust. Honest doubters will become 
its ablest champions, but militarists see in it no 
rainbow of promise across the sky. Amid the 
acclaim of the people of fourteen nations, and 
the thanksgiving of the peoples of small nations 
yet without voice, here and there we hear utter- 
ances of distrust and jeremiads and criticism. 
But could we expect such a revolution in world 
thought and world policy without apprehension 
and division and even denunciation? 

The parallel between the adoption of the Con- 
stitution of the United States and that of the 
League of Nations for Peace is perfect. No 
more patriotic body of men ever assembled to 
form a government of the people, by the people 
and for the people than the great men w^ho com- 
posed the Constitutional Convention. When it 
was presented as the result of their mature wis- 
dom, some men of fervor and love of liberty like 
Patrick Henry decried it as a centralized instru- 
ment which would destroy the rights of the states 
and the liberty of the people. ''It is a jugger- 
naut," cried doubters. ''It is a rope of sand,'' 
declared those who wished a government fash- 
ioned more on monarchical lines. Both were 
wrong. It was neither destructive of the reserved 
rights of the states, nor a weak instrument. 

Time has demonstrated its strength and flexi- 
bility and confounded all who had forebodings of 
ill in the written compass by which our mariners 
have safely steered the good old Ship of State, 

[330] 



A COVENANT OF PEACE 

freighted with the hopes and fears and happiness 
not only of its millions of passengers, but with 
the blessings and safeguards of liberty for all 
humanity. We remember Madison and Hamil- 
ton, the representatives of the two schools of 
thought of that day, and applaud their wisdom 
and vision in securing the ratification of the Con- 
stitution, while we have almost forgotten those of 
little faith. In the future, as men look back to 
this hour, when the fate of the world depends 
upon this League of Nations, posterity^ will 
applaud the forward-looking statesmanship of 
Woodrow Wilson who had large part in in- 
spiring and fashioning this immortal document, 
and the distinguished and ardent lover of Peace, 
William Howard Taft, who is abundant in labors 
and in leadership at home in support of the noble 
principle to which he has given his best thought 
and untiring effort. 

Not long ago Lloyd George asked this ques- 
tion: ''Are we to lapse back into the old national 
rivalries, animosities, competitive armaments, or 
are we to initiate the reign on earth of the Prince 
of Peace?" The representatives of fourteen na- 
tions made the answer that preserves the fruits 
won by the valor of allied fighters, and the peo- 
ples of all the world will thunder their approval. 

I have sometimes wondered what might have 
been the reflection, in his sere and yellow leaf, of 
an American given the opportunity to sign the 
Declaration of Independence, who had hesitated 

[331] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

and doubted, and finally decided to withhold his 
name and his support in the hour when, as Frank- 
lin happily phrased it, ''We must hang together 
or we will hang separately." Can you imagine 
the feelings of his sons and grandsons as they 
came to manhood and felt they had been robbed 
of a priceless heritage because of an ancestor's 
quibbles and fears and doubts? A score of years 
hence, when the League of Peace has given us 
a ''warless world,'' for which even Tennyson 
dared not hope, though he toyed with the dream, 
what think you will be the unavailing regret of 
any man, privileged to give it his support, whose 
lack of faith in the New Day of World Ideals 
translated into World Realities, permitted some 
imaginary or other reason to put him on record 
against this document of manifest destiny? And 
when he stands before the bar of his children, 
what answer can he offer that will not make them 
ashamed that he was found wanting in the hour 
of the world's liberation from the curse of war? 
In these latter days the world has been buffeted 
upon the waves of war and anguish and tragedy 
unspeakable. The ravages of shot and shell have 
pierced millions of hearts. Men have lost faith in 
the old material gods they once trusted. In the 
final test it was revealed that they had feet of 
clay. Before German greed converted the con- 
tinents into armed camps, many of us believed the 
great financial houses of Germany, naturally op- 
posed to war, and the hosts of labor which in the 

[332] 



A COVENANT OF PEACE 

last analysis must bear the brunt of war, were 
stronger than Prussian militarism, but the posi- 
tion of bankers and labor was based upon their 
material interests and not rooted in the hatred 
of conquest and the love of justice. The German 
banker who opposed war did so because he feared 
the effect upon his securities. The German la- 
borer who hated war was influenced by the 
thought of lost income, the danger to his life and 
the sacrifices it would entail upon his family, not 
by the spirit of *'good will toward men." 

This war taught us that Money and Finance 
and Labor were impotent against the cruel tyr- 
anny of Autocracy. Indeed we have come to see 
everywhere that the God of the Dollar is dross, 
and that materialism has no power to bring com- 
fort or endue with strength. The light of Learn- 
ing and Science shone dimly as men groped their 
way through trenches or kept vigil on darkened 
ships. Commerce was tributary to War, and 
Agriculture was valued only as it gave sustenance 
to fighting men. Statesmanship was unable to 
avert the catastrophe that engulfed all mankind. 

The world as we knew it before the Hymn of 
Hate was translated into slaughter and cruelty 
no longer exists. In its place we had one por- 
tion of the so-called Christian nations composing 
the Central Empire maddened by the lust of blood, 
and the other portion suddenly called upon to 
accept slavery or take up arms to preserve their 
own freedom and the liberty of future genera- 

[333] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

tions. In this modern Armageddon, all things 
which seemed stable have perished and troubled 
men and women looked in vain in all that Man 
had created for consolation and inspiration and 
valor. Stoicism alone of all the false creeds re- 
mained to those who had courage without faith 
in God, and while it imparted bravery in battle 
it gave no warmth to the heart, no glow to the 
countenance, no radiance in death. As one by 
one the old foundations upon which men have 
builded were swept away by the tide of battle, 
men struggled in the rushing waters for a life 
preserver, not for their bodies, but for their 
souls. They did not find it in arms or munitions, 
in craft on or under the sea, or in the ''airy na- 
vies grappling in the central blue." They did 
not find it in the philosophy of Fatalism, in the 
hopeless creed of unbelief in a future life, in the 
gods of war and passion, or even the gods of am- 
bition and resolution. In the blackness of the 
night of conflict no earthly glimmer brightened 
the pathway of nations or individuals. Science 
and Art and Music girded no man with strength. 
But the Christian Church, Protestant and 
Catholic, nobly met the challenge offered by war 
in its fiery furnace. Martyrs never went to the 
stake with more fortitude than millions of men, 
reared in Christian homes and supported by 
Christian faith, went into battle for a righteous 
cause. Faithful chaplains, patriotic representa- 
tives of the Red Cross, the Y. M. C. A., the Y. W. 

[334] 



A COVENANT OF PEACE 

C A., the Knights of Columbus, the Salvation 
Army, the Jewish Welfare Workers, were found 
where the bravest love to die. 

What of the church now in peace, in the tran- 
sition days, in times of readjustment and recon- 
struction ? ''The morrow of victory is more peril- 
ous than its eve,'' said Mazzini, and Clemenceau 
upon the signing of the armistice gave expression 
to the same truth when he told his people : 'We 
are coming to a difficult time. It is harder to win 
peace than to win war." After war and after ele- 
vation comes the natural relapse from discipline 
and self-restraint. Across the seas religious lead- 
ers are unremitting in their service to men still 
in uniform, safeguarding the fruits of victory. 
Here at home, with hundreds of thousands of 
young men, the flower of our country, being de- 
mobilized, the imperative duty of the church is to 
give a gospel welcome of good cheer and whole- 
some hospitality to these saviors of liberty. "Sin- 
gle men in khaki ain't no plaster saints," said 
Kipling. These young men do not all feel the 
need of continued self-discipline. The call to the 
church is to throw around them wholesome en- 
vironment and enlist them in the service of the 
church. No gospel of negation will appeal to 
youths who unafraid went over the top. The gos- 
pel which will win their fealty is the gospel of 
sweetness and light, help to those who are 
wounded, employm.ent to the capable, justice and 
brotherhood with the music of joy and gladness. 

[335] 



THE NAYY AND THE NATION 

The founder of the Christian church said, "1 am 
the Light of the World." No church can be of 
His fold which does not run out to greet and to 
help the returning soldier and sailor and extend 
fellowship to them and to all others who stand in 
need of human sympathy and divine guidance. 

The churches of America have seen the vision 
of the larger duty of the New Church in the New 
Day. They know that creeds and churchanity 
will neither save men nor attract their attendance. 
Except the churches of to-day be leavened with 
the spirit of Christ, which is unselfish and whole- 
hearted service, they will be "tinkling cymbals." 

With this larger comprehension of opportunity 
and responsibihty, this Inter-Church World 
Movement has been inaugurated. It is launched 
in a day when liberality has become a national 
habit and a national asset with higher conceptions 
of man's duty to his fellows. We have bought 
Liberty bonds and thrift stamps, and we w^ill buy 
Victory bonds as an expression of thanksgiving 
for the assurance of world peace. We have con- 
tributed in war to every appeal for welfare work. 
Now comes the appeal to the organization that is 
the inspiration of all philanthropy, all benevo- 
lence, of all care for those in need, of all good 
deeds in this life and all hope for immortality, the 
Church of the Living God. Having heard the 
call to the useful reflected lights, we will not fail 
in the call of the divine institution which has the 
Light of the World in its keeping. 

[336] 



XXXVII 

ON THE ARRIVAL OF THE FIRST CONVOY OF 
UNITED STATES TROOPS IN FRANCE 

July 3, 1917. 

My Dear Mr. Secretary: Word has just come to 
the War Department that the last ships conveying 
Gen. Pershing's expeditionary force to France arrived 
safe to-day. As you know, the Navy assumed the re- 
sponsibility for the safety of these ships on the sea 
and through the danger zone. 

The ships themselves and their convoys were in the 
hands of the Navy, and now that they have arrived, 
and carried, without the loss of a man, our soldiers 
who are the first to represent America in the battle 
for democracy, I beg leave to tender to you, to the 
Admiral, and to the Navy, the hearty thanks of the 
War Department and of the Army. 

This splendid achievement is an auspicious begin- 
ning, and it has been characterized throughout by the 
most cordial and effective cooperation between the two 
military services. 

Newton D. Baker. 

Hon. Josephus Daniels, 

Secretary of the Navy. 

July 4, I9i7- 
My Dear Mr. Secretary: The Navy accepts the 
thanks and gratitude of the Army as an expression of 
fraternal esteem rather than as any acknowledgment of 
sole achievement. The movement of the expeditionary 
forces, carried out with such complete success, was 
planned in joint conferences, and goes to the people as 

[337] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

a proof of the effectiveness that lies in intimate co- 
operation between the two great military branches of 
the Government. 

This generous concentration of activities is as thrill- 
ing a thing to me as the safe passage of our transports 
through the ocean lanes. With Army and Navy think- 
ing as one, planning as one, fighting as one, the great 
purpose of America is expressed in terms of invinci- 
bility. In behalf of the men whose courage gave safe 
conduct to courage, I send to you the greetings of the 
Navy, awaiting in full confidence for the day when 
the valor of your soldiers will write new and splendid 
chapters in the heroic history of our liberty-loving 
land. You, who have shared with me the anxiety of 
these days of intolerable suspense, will know the full 
and happy heart out of which I write. 

JosEPHUS Daniels. 

Hon. Newton D. Baker, 

Secretary of War. 



HEROIC BELGIUM 

Introducing Baron Ludovic Moncheur and the Belgian 
Mission, Mt. Vernon, June 24, igiy 

The Belgian soldiers at that modern Thermopylae 
wrote a new page in the history of the valor of man- 
kind. No longer do we need the inspiration of the 
immortal lines, telling of the heroic "Charge of the 
Light Brigade." What the Belgians did in and around 
Liege furnishes the modern theme for the noblest epic. 
Their spirit of fortitude and their willingness to die in 
a resistance which they knew could only harass their 
foes are exceeded only by the bravery they have dis- 
played in the days of suffering and privation which 
have followed. In all the world there is no brave man 
or woman who was not thrilled by Belgian patriotism 
and courage in battle and Belgian fortitude in disaster. 
Belgium is a nation of heroes, and I have the pleasure 

[338] ■ 



SPECIAL MESSAGES 

of presenting a worthy representative, Baron Mon- 
cheur. 

A MECCA OF LIBERTY 

Introducing Ambassador Boris A. Bakhmetieif and the 
Russian Mission, Mt. Vernon, June 24, 1917 

This young republic is rich in shrines, but Mt. 
Vernon is the Mecca not only for Americans but for 
all worshipers of liberty who come to our shores. 
As soldier and executive, Washington led the Revo- 
lution that established on lasting foundations the first 
great Republic of the world. Its success has cheered 
every man in every clime who dreamed of govern- 
ment by the consent of the governed. The idea that 
government must be handed down to the people was 
challenged by the patriots who made Washington their 
leader. Victory for government of the people, by the 
people, and for the people won in the War of the 
Revolution will never perish from the earth. Its bless- 
ings are reaching all mankind, for "the thoughts of 
men are widened with the process of the suns." That 
must be the compensation which will come out of the 
sacrifices of the world war. 



TIES THAT BIND AMERICA AND JAPAN 

Introducing Viscount Ishil and the Japanese Mission, 
Mt. Vernon, August 26, igiy 

It is not inappropriate, but I think it has an histor- 
ical significance, that in this pilgrimage of our dis- 
tinguished visitors from Japan to the American 
Mecca, they have come upon a ship of the Navy, and 
as guests of the Navy Department. The men of the 
Navy love to recall that when in the early fifties it was 
determined to send a mission to Japan to open the way 
for that intercourse which has been mutually so agree- 
able and helpful, the diplomatic duty was intrusted to 
a distinguished naval officer, Commodore Matthew 

[339] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

Calbraith Perry, who had won fame ashore and afloat. 
To the courage of a naval officer he added the ac- 
compHshments of a diplomat, thus illustrating again 
how deserved was the praise of Lord Palmerston, who 
said: "When I wish an important duty performed in 
any part of the world calling for a cool head and a 
steady hand, I always send a captain of the Navy." 

Commodore Perry was the first to win the confi- 
dence of the Japanese rulers. He lived before this 
day of hurried calls, remained in Japan nearly three 
years, having time to learn the worth of the Japanese 
and to study their customs and traditions. He re- 
mained, too, long enough for the people of Japan to 
learn from him and his fellow officers, sailors and 
marines the broad and fraternal spirit of the American 
people, who did not ask then and have not asked 
since, and will never ask for themselves, any right or 
privilege that may not likewise be granted to the 
smallest nation. 

It is with great pleasure that America opens its 
hearts and homes to the distinguished members of the 
Japanese Mission and with a peculiar sense of fitness 
in the present crisis we welcome you to the shrine of 
George Washington, the patron saint of America, who 
illustrated those virtues of valor and statesmanship 
which attract men of like mold of every clime and 
every nation. 

To-day, with stronger ties than ever, woven out of 
the threads of our mutual participation in the world- 
wide struggle to ensure to all men the right to live 
their own lives and pursue their own national ideals, 
Japan and America pause at the Tomb of Washington 
in the hope that there may fall upon us all a double 
portion of his spirit of faith in the triumph of the 
right and his readiness to make any sacrifice for the 
principles for which America and the Allies are now 
contending in the arena of war. They have drawn 
the sword to end military feudalism. They will sheathe 
it only in a victory that will guarantee permanent 
peace. 

[340] 



SPECIAL MESSAGES 

CHRISTMAS, 1917 

Dr. Van Dyke's "The Other Wise Man" found 
the Saviour after years of searching and sacrifice. 
This Christmas above all others points the way to 
Peace on Earth through travail and heroic giving 
of life and substance. We are moving toward that 
long deferred era of Good Will to Men which the 
Christ promised should bless mankind. It will come 
to us, not merely ending this war, but presaging the 
period when we shall realize the prophecy of Isaiah, 
"They shall beat their swords into plowshares." 
But, like all good things that abide, it will come only 
by the heavy toll of life. But what would Life be 
worth to us without Liberty? Men from America 
are fighting this Christmastide because Might seeks 
to deny the freedom which alone can make the 
world a fit place for free men. They will win and 
their victory will truly enable us on every future 
Christmas to sing "Peace on Earth, Good Will To- 
ward Men" with the assurance that it is a possession 
which neither Force nor any other evil thing can 
take from us. 

"BUY BONDS UNTIL IT HURTS" 

Inauguration of Third Liberty Loan, April 6, 19 18 

On this anniversary of our entrance into the war 
the magnitude of our task and the tremendous respon- 
sibility which rests upon America come home to us as 
never before. The progress of the war has demon- 
strated the inexorable determination of the German 
war lords to impose their cruel will not only upon 
Europe, but upon all the civilized world, and this 
menace will not be overcome unless we pour out our 
men, our money and our every resource. With all 
we have and all we are fully enlisted, victory is as- 
sured. Until the German military autocracy is crushed 
forever there will be no safety in the world for any 

[341] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

of the things America holds dear. Our men in the 
trenches and on the ships are counting their lives as 
nothing and are maintaining the highest standards of 
American manhood and heroism. It is our privilege 
at home to sacrifice and sacrifice and sacrifice to pro- 
vide the Government with means to carry on the v^^ar. 
No man who values his freedom and loves the princi- 
ples upon which our Government was established can 
afford not to contribute to the limit to the third Lib- 
erty loan. We must buy bonds until it hurts and then 
buy more. 



THEY ARE GIVING THEIR ALL 
Memorial Day, igi8 

The significance of Memorial Day is emphasized on 
this 30th day of May in a way that gives it a new 
sacredness. It will be observed this year with a sense 
of solemnity and a touch of pride we have not felt in 
days of peace. As not hitherto in this generation we 
will gather to do honor to the supreme sacrifice made 
by the young men who are laying their all on tlie 
altar of their country. 

It is not because these men who have given their 
lives were brave that we revere their memories. Of 
brave men the whole earth is a sepulcher. The uni- 
verse teems with stout hearts, and courage is the com- 
monest as well as the most glorious virtue among 
men. If any one doubts this truth, the abundant dis- 
play of it on land and sea in the past few months has 
given conviction and reverence. 

It is because these young men were animated by 
the spirit of the Gospel — "Greater love hath no man 
than this: that he lay down his life" — that we revere 
them. They have given their lives as proof that they 
love their country better than they love life. No 
man loves anything he will not die for. 

We erect monuments for soldiers and sailors, not 

[342] 



SPECIAL MESSAGES 

because they are better than men in civil life, but be- 
cause in giving their lives they were not thinking of 
themselves, but they were thinking of guaranteeing the 
welfare of those who come after them. As parents 
mourn the death of the youths who are giving their 
lives in this country to preserve all that civilization 
and Christianity have won, their grief will be assuaged 
by pride. 

Our histories tell the record of the dead, our poets 
sing of it and we celebrate it on Memorial Day. The 
deed shines as a star in our galaxy of glory. It is 
woven into the texture of our patriotism. 



AMERICAN MOTHERS 
Mothers' Day, May 12, 1918 

The courage of the mothers in the homes is reflected 
by the bravery of the men at the front. It is always 
true that the morale of a nation's soldiers and the 
ideals for which they fight are born in the spiritual 
heroism of a nation's mothers. Let all America join 
in international prayer to all mothers of defenders of 
democracy to cheer and strengthen them, their sons, 
and the Nation itself to battle to win the fight that 
must be won. 

Our country stands before the world as a Nation 
fighting for the ideals of nations, and the world knows 
that the mothers of America are sending men of 
ideals to the front. In that lies our strength. Faith 
and prayer are the two basic supports of national 
idealism. International prayer for all mothers of 
democracy — there are 13,000,000 of them — can not but 
aid every soldier in camp or trench as well as 
strengthen every mother at home. 



[343] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 



"BASTILLE DAY" 

General Order to All Ships and Stations of the Nofuy, 
Issued July lo, igi8 

July 14, Bastille Day, shall be observed by all United 
States naval vessels and stations as a special day of 
allied tribute to France. 

Ships shall be dressed and salutes fired to French 
colors in the same manner as prescribed for July 4. 

Commanders of forces, stations and districts will 
assist in every way to insure hearty cooperation of the 
Navy in connection with local celebrations of Bastille 
Day. 

REGISTRATION DAY, 1918 

Statement to the Press, September 7, IQ18 

All America must be mobilized to win the war. 
Each one of us, whatever our age or occupation, 
owes to the nation the best service we can give; and 
it is for the country to say where we can serve most 
efficiently. The wholeheartedness with which our en- 
tire population is supporting every necessary war 
measure was never more strikingly exemplified than 
in the passage and successful operation of the selective 
draft act. This is the first instance I can recall in 
which a draft system involving the registration of 
10,000,000 men and the selection of millions for mili- 
tary service has been successfully carried out by civil- 
ian officials acting under military direction. This is 
largely due to the fact that the system is thoroughly 
democratic in principle and has been administered with 
conspicuous fairness and ability. 

The extension of the law has, I am sure, met with 
general approval. The arrival of more than a million 
American troops in France increased the confidence 
of our allies, as it strengthened the allied forces by 
fresh and fit new fighters. The knowledge that these 

[344] 



SPECIAL MESSAGES 

are but the vanguard, and that millions more — as many 
more as are necessary — will be poured across in an un- 
ending stream, removes the last shadow of doubt, If 
any ever existed, of Germany's speedy defeat and the 
early triumph of the forces of democracy. 

To this end we have pledged our lives, our fortunes 
and our sacred honor. Loyal Americans will consider 
it a proud privilege to serve wherever our country 
needs us most, whether in the trenches or on the seas, 
in shipyard, factory, or field. 

That is the meaning of registration day. 

FOURTH LIBERTY LOAN 
Message to Entire Navy, September 9, J918 

On Saturday, September 28th, this country will 
launch its Fourth Liberty Loan campaign. 

To the first three calls the Navy responded in a 
manner that thrilled the Nation. In the third cam- 
paign alone, our subscription was more than eighteen 
and a half million dollars. The Navy again has an 
opportunity to demonstrate its thrift and to proclaim 
once more its readiness to serve to the utmost. 

The present call comes at a time when the eyes of 
the world are fixed more than ever before on the 
Am.erican Navy. To achieve another triumph in this 
battle against Germany, the Navy will, I am sure, be 
glad to exhibit the same steadfastness, energy, and sac- 
rifice which make for victory on the high seas. 

SHIPS THE PRIME NEED 

Message to Shipbuilders, September ig, IQ18 

The chief business of the Navy so far during this 
war has been to keep safe the road to France. This 
work has been well done, due to the skill, knowledge, 
and courage of the men who man our fighting ships. 
But capable as has been the overseas transport ser- 

[345] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

vice, brave and courageous as our soldiers and marines 
who are winning victories in France, the vital need 
has been ships, and ships, and more ships to carry our 
fighting men, munitions, and supplies. We need more, 
and every man who drives two rivets where one has 
been driven before is a public benefactor. More than 
that, he belongs to the mighty army which is preserv- 
ing liberty for the men of our day and for the men 
of future generations. 

All honor to the men who have expedited shipbuild- 
ing, who in freezing weather and in burning heat have 
heeded the naval signal "full speed ahead" in building 
ships. And all honor, too, to those who, in this su- 
preme hour, are putting on additional steam in this 
patriotic service. They are as truly doing their part 
to win the war as are the men on the ships and in the 
trenches. 

EAGER FOR ACTION 

Interview in Pittsburg Press, November 3, 1918 

The boys that man our ships aren't happy over their 
splendid triumphs. They are like bull-dogs straining 
at the leash. They want action — they want to battle 
day after day for the greater glory of America. They 
are almost prayerful in their pleading for "a real 
crack at the Germans." Nothing in this life would 
please them more than the issuance of orders to- 
morrow that gave them a chance to get at the German 
Fleet. 

ON THE SIGNING OF THE ARMISTICE 

Radio Message to Every Ship and Station of the Navy, 
November 11, 1918 

The signing of the armistice makes this the great- 
est day for our country since the signing of the 
Declaration of Independence. For the world there 
has been no day so momentous for liberty. I send 

. [346] 



SPECIAL MESSAGES 

greetings and congratulations to all in the naval 
establishments at home and abroad. The test of 
war found the navy ready, fit, with every man on 
his toes. Every day all the men in the service have 
given fresh proof of devotion, loyalty and efficiency. 

In America and in all other countries the people 
have applauded naval initiative and naval resource- 
fulness. As we rejoice in the victory for every 
principle that caused us to enter the war, let us be 
thankful that when the American people needed a 
navy we were ready with all facilities and were 
rapidly creating all others that could be employed. 

I wish to express my warm appreciation for your 
perfect team-work and splendid cooperation. 

RETURN OF THE FLEET 

United States Battleships Returning from Foreign Service, 
December 25, igi8 

In welcoming home the powerful American dread- 
naughts which have been engaged overseas during the 
war the American people will greet the officers and 
men with pride and congratulations. These powerful 
ships, the equal of any in the world, in cooperation 
with the British fleet gave such predominance of Sea 
Power in the North Sea that the German fleet dared 
not invite suicide by coming out and offering battle. 
They did not try conclusions because they knew there 
never was a fleet in being that could have had a chance 
of victory against the British and American fleet, 
working together with the same signals and the same 
strategy as if they were of the naval power of a single 
nation. Their mission was as single as if they had 
represented only one instead of the two great English 
speaking nations. Their united service typified and 
cemented the ties between our country and Great 
Britain. Their silent vigils protected commerce, se- 
cured safe passage of troops and supplies, and effec- 
tually bottled up the German fleet, rendering it as im- 
potent for harm as if it had never been constructed. 

[347] 



THE NAVY AND THE NATION 

Sea Power once again demonstrated its primacy in 
making land victories possible. While the American 
dreadnaughts, an important part of the world's strong- 
est armada, were not given an opportunity to win a 
great sea victory, they did more: They cooperated 
in receiving the surrendered German fleet which capit- 
ulated to the superior force of the allied fleets, and 
they will be received at home with all the honors given 
to valiant victors. 

A SYMBOL OF AMERICA'S PURPOSE AND POWER 

Conclusion of Annual Report, December i, 1918 

The very phrase "The Navy of the United States" 
has to-day a new significance. It means not only ships 
and crews, not only materiel and personnel — it connotes 
a spirit, invisible but potent, a spirit that has enriched 
our national life, that has vitalized our national think- 
ing, that has widened our contact with national prob- 
lems, and thus by community of interest has bound 
us together in a closer and more resolute union. In 
thousands of American homes to-day where our Navy 
was a mere word in 1913 it has become a symbol not 
only of daring but of unselfish endeavor and high 
constructive purpose. It has entered into the national 
consciousness as part and parcel of the twin concepts 
America and Americanism. It had already linked 
itself inseparably with our past; it now is no less a 
part of our future. Nations and peoples, too, that knew 
of the Navy of the United States only by hearsay 
or random incident know it now as the organized will 
of a free people, prompt to heed the call of right 
against might, tireless in effort, fertile in resource, 
happy in cooperation, and unyielding till the ultimate 
goal be won. 



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